You gotta be a decade or two older than 35 to really appeciate the following by Dave Draper (actually, you can appreciate it at any age but you gotta be 45+ to have lived the life described below, right?)
"Weights are for Kids of all Ages
I remember growing up in New Jersey. Gosh, it took a long time. There was
something about the post-war era or that pocket of Garden State meadow in
the shadow of the New York skyline, or the immigrant population that
settled down to work hard with what they had and what they knew. Time was
locked tight like a rusty gate, yet couldn’t keep the days from passing
by. And having no money did little to oil the hinges. So what? Who knew?
You woke up in the morning, made it through the day and went to bed at
dark. Night, Ma… Dad. God bless you, Son.
No TV, not till I was 10. No news to threaten an innocent life. No sitcoms
to make a kid laugh on cue. No cop shows to teach crime and sex and drugs.
No game shows to teach greed and false gain and no video games to freak
young minds. The phone rang once or twice a day and the door had no lock,
no key and the smudge-faced coalman came at the end of every month. No
fast food, though we had Chinese take-out on special occasions.noodles.
Cars were too bulky to speed and gas was 19.9 cents a gallon. I liked hot
dogs, then, with mustard and sauerkraut.
Sounds lonely when I look back, but there’s one thing I forgot to mention
– I had a set of weights. They weren’t much, but they sure were heavy.
They came with a wrench and collars, one bar and plenty of plates to bust
my knuckles and build my biceps. Since I played with the ungainly heap of
iron long and hard, I didn’t need anyone to teach me the rules, which was
good, as there was no one in a nine-year-old’s country mile who had a
clue.
Something about the little mess interested me. That it was my little mess
bought with my own hard-earned five dollars had a lot to do with the
attraction. I didn’t own much, but I owned those noisy weights.
Furthermore, nobody – my father, mother or brothers – was the least bit
interested in my prized possessions as they lay stubbornly on the sidewalk
outside our house. I took their silence as a good sign, encouragement and
a compliment. Somehow I knew I wanted to be different than everyone else.
Probably because I was.
I dragged the rebellious, clanging rascals into the house and set them by
my bedside. This was an amazing event in my life. Being the youngest in
the nest, I was granted few rights, yet not one family member displayed
disagreement, irritation or chagrin. It was like I had come of age at
nine. I was baptized by iron. To this day I cannot recall anyone –
family, friend, stranger or foe – discouraging me, mocking me or playing
me the fool. Ma smiled.
The way was clear to do what I had to do. And best of all, nobody tried to
tell me what to do and how to do it – not once, not ever. They just let
me plug along like a hound dog looking for a missing child, hoping he’d
find it sooner or later. Been following my nose ever since.
So much for cruising, bombers. We’ve got weights to lift and muscles to
build. Take 'er up and let 'er rip… The Captain"