Air Bags and Seat Belts (a remembrance)

I happened to overhear a conversation between a much older man and a salesgirl while waiting in line today. He was explaining how kids today have no discipline because parents and teachers aren't allow to spank them. Why, when he was a lad...

I began musing about some of my own cantankerous old man thoughts, like how the monkey bars on my playground were set in cement, unlike the soft landing surface required today (and so on), when I had a flashback!

Many of you readers are probably too young to remember, but seat belts didn't appear in US vehicles until the mid-1960's. But, prior to their introduction, we did have our own version of the seat belt and front passenger air bag: our parent's right arm!

Yes, anytime you were in the front passenger seat and they had to make a quick stop, they would fling out their right arm and smash you in the chest so you wouldn't hit the dashboard or the windshield.

If you were in the backseat, of course, you were on your own. And, its funny now that I think about it, but I can't ever remember any of my older brothers doing that (of course, I had enough brothers that me going through the windshield would not have dramatically reduced the size of my family).

But I do remember both my father and mother doing that! Now, that was safety! That was love!