I was raised in a sane world where the adults were in charge, where we did not have any food choices. You ate what mother put on the table or we went to bed without food. God forbid this adult behavior would be tagged "child abuse" today. If we tried to rebel father would mark our legs with his belt. We were not allowed to mention the intimate parts of our bodies in public. Even the word "foot" was considered vulgar. We had to refer to our feet as extremities. The youg ones were raised to take care of the older ones in their time of need. People married for a life time, not just for the honeymoon or money or convenience as it is done today. Children were considered a gift from God and were raised with tender loving care. We grew up respecting the family, the teacher and the church, we always shared. We, as girls, were thought that sex was a dirty deed but was only to be conceded to our husband after the marriage. We were thought that the only thing that really belonged to us was our virginity and we had to treasure it for it was our gift from God. We were totally indoctrinated to live a life of work, knowledge, respect, truth and justice. We learned to make our hand-me-down clothes fit, we learned how to take old sweaters apart and re-use the yarn to make a new one. Burlap sacks were used to make skirts decorated with special embroidery designed by our fantasy and realized by ourselves. We were never bored because we were always creating or inventing a new game to play. Candies were only Christmas treats, if we were good. Our snacks were the fruits the season and we loved them. Our lives were interesting, joyful, full of creativity. We were never allowed to interrupt an adult when he was talking but we always listened to every thing the adults talked about. We were mostly a generation of doers and listeners.
As infants we were waddled. The Romans started that fad in belief that waddling kept their bodies heat and humidity at the same level as mother's womb, also to protect their fragile bodies. It was also believed that waddling could prevent bones deformation such as bow legs. Waddled infants were less irritable. Waddling slowed down their cardiac rhythm. Infants would cry less and sleep longer. Looking back now I thing waddling was an instrument of constraint that violated our infancy. Was it good or was it bad? It did teach us to stay in our place, to be patient waiting for the few minutes of change to stretch in freedom. I remember unfit mothers would let their infants lay in their feces and urine till the acid burned sores on their innocent legs. As human beings we are still part of a heard that is led where the top leaders want to lead us using religion and medicine to change society.
