A life of contribution
As I was making coffee and working through some rib cramps, I was suddenly taken back in memory to grade school. Most folks here will recall cleaning the erasers from the huge slate chalkboards, year after year, as everyone messed up sometime. It was a punishment. And we inhaled the dust. How can we forget the 70's and 80's with trash burning barrels and fall burning the leaves that blotted out the sun? The bonfires that you tried to not fall into due to the alcohol consumption, the campfires, military burn pits, and getting stuck behind buses and semi tractors.
Oh yeah, the memories. That stuff alone should have been enough to wreck anyone, but it didn't somehow, so I started smoking. I think this may ring a familiar bell with most folks here.
So, here we are. The kids will never understand it, and I am grateful for that in a world of dry erase boards, leave pick up, trash pick up, laws governing burns, and electric vehicles.
I, for one, and glad it all came along. Unfortunately, it took a few generations of getting wrecked to get here.
With luck, good practices, and medical breakthroughs, we may be the last to endure this. I sure hope so.
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Another great topic! I will add my two cents to it. Five years in the blast furnace department at a local steel mill in the early 1970's. Very little safety equipment for safe breathing, and there was a ton of pollution. Then there was a total of 9 years of pumping gas and being an auto mechanic. A bunch of petrochemicals breathed, car exhaust, and some asbestos from brake parts before asbestos was banned. Then over a dozen years working in print shops and finishing shops for the printing industry. A bunch of dust and chemical smells. Add to that my smoking cigarettes and weed, and it all adds up to my COPD condition. I sure wish I had taken better care back then. Hind sight does me no good now. All I can do is advise my grandsons not to do the junk I have and how to avoid all problems I have to deal with daily. Take care all and God Bless!
Another one that my mother often talks about: The mosquito trucks that sprayed all kinds of things as they drove around the neighborhood ... and all the neighborhood kids running down the street behind it, playing. She also remembers swimming in places that ended up being contaminated with mercury. "It's a wonder we don't glow in the dark today," she jokes. ,
I remember the mosquito trucks from when I was a kid. But I distinctly remember being told we had to stay indoors when they sprayed until the next morning. That doesn't mean the chemical residues leftover did not effect us as children playing outside. With as many chemicals in our water systems, our food, and our air, it is a wonder how any of us survive daily life. Now we have to add in nano-plastics and who knows what else that we are not being told about. It is no wonder that so many health problems plague our current way of life. Take care all and God Bless!
Being in the automotive and semi repair for close to 40 years. Welder for all those years too. Yes my mistake was the smoking also. I should of learned from seeing my mom suffer and die from lung disease at a young age of 72. Shame on me. I guess when we are young, we think we are invincible and fearless. Painting cars did not help either. Staying positive is the best we can do. Days are trying for us with this silent killer. I try to instill in my daughter.You see the little life i have suffering every day. Especially after the heart attack and lung disease. Stop smoking. Grand daughter is the same with the vape. Told her, when are you going to wake up. When its too late? Doctors told me, your business with the diesel work will kill you faster than smoking 3 packs a day.Yes had to close the business. So here i sit. Trying my best to stay positive with hope. Yes Hope.
