I received an e-mail last week that reflected on how kids years ago spent their time and I thought it would be a nice nostalgic piece to include in this month’s advertiser. I am including it, but before the nostalgia, I'd like to write a bit about perspective.

We all need to put things in perspective once in a while. You'll have noticed that I'm avoiding referring to the recession as best I can, because I do realise that people are getting fed up with it. Don't worry, I'm not going to dwell on it here, but I will just touch on it. I read newspapers seven days a week, don't get to listen to as much radio as I'd like and I watch very little TV, mostly news, current affairs and the occasional movie, so yes, I accept it's difficult to avoid the “R” word.

I watched the 9 o'clock news last Monday week and afterwards was informed that the following show was called “I see a darkness” and that it was about suicide. I initially thought, “jaysus, a programme about suicide and the country gripped by recession, give us a break......” But I watched it. It involved the family of a 16- year-old Louth guy who had ended his life 6 years earlier. They were very honest. The father spoke about the first time he dated his wife. How, after walking her to her home for the first time, he duly skipped all the way to his home, such was his state of happiness. We didn't need to be told that, considering the programme's topic, he hadn't much cause for skipping with happiness, this past while. The poor young fella's ex girlfriend told how she still places wine gums on his grave, because that's what he used to buy her. Don't forget, this young fella was only 16 when he decided to bail out.

The programme that immediately followed was Questions and Answers. The first question from the audience that night was, “How much pain do you think the Irish people are prepared to take in next months budget”. Now, in fairness, the questioner probably hadn't just viewed what everyone else in TV land had viewed, but, doesn't it just drive home the point of perspective in all of these things. We never really found out why the young fella did what he did, but when one looks at the way the world has gone, we used to be a society, now we're an economy, we used to be citizens, now we're consumers. It's all about winners and losers nowadays. Angry and all as we all are about the causes of the mess we're in economically, if you feel you're losing out in next month’s budget, spare a thought for the guy who has no reason at all to skip anymore.

I received the following e-mail last week concerning people born in the 1940's, 50's, 60's or early 70's:

“We survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, ate raw eggs, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.

Then, after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking.

As children we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.

Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, no McDonalds, no KFC or Subway.

Even though all the shops closed at 6pm and didn't open at weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this!

We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the local shop and buy toffees, gobstoppers and bubblegum and some bangers to blow up frogs with.

We ate white bread with real butter on it and soft drinks with sugar in it but we weren't overweight because we were always outside playing.

We would leave home in the morning and play all day and only came home when it got dark.

No one was able to reach us all day....and we were ok......

We would spend hours building our gocarts out of old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we had no brakes...

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii, X-boxes, no video games at all, no Sky tv.

We didn't have mobile phones, personal computers or internet chat rooms........we had friends and we went outside and found them!!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were never any lawsuits from these accidents.

Only girls had pierced ears.

We ate worms and made pies from dirt and the worms didn't live in us forever.

You could only buy Easter eggs and hot cross buns at Easter time.

We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays.

Mammy didn't have to go to work to help make ends meet.

There were Gaelic football training sessions and tryouts for the team and if you didn't make the team you learned to cope with disappointment.

Our teachers used to hit us with straps and drumsticks and the bullies always ruled the playground.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of........they actually sided with the law...........

Our parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like, “Kiora”, “Blade”, “Ridge” or “Vanilla”.

We had freedom, success and responsibility and we learned how to deal with it all.

And if you were one of these children, Congratulations!!”