Childhood: A Public Service Message

I recently bought Alivia a fun CD by The SqueeGee's 

(another amazing Target clearance deal...$2).

They have a song called I-D-E-A :

Since listening to this song (over and over and over again) I've thought about all the ways social brainwashing media has influenced me (and I'm not talking about the idiot paparazzi):

My earliest memory of this strong-armed advertising is:

Really? Only ME?:

and:

I wanted a whistle just like Woodsy's:

Woodsy was fun. Smokey was scary:

Then once I started school they honed in on my teeth:

Sacred Ground. My teeth:

Who doesn't remember this childhood traumatic experience?

I blame my teeth cleaning OCD on this:

When I was about 7 or so they started playing this on TV:

I have to apologize to all my Native American friends for this:

It truly made me cry...Every time: 

I really believed he was out there living in a tipi,

canoeing his way from the past to the futuristic freeway:

Until I realized he was wearing tennis shoes:

Put on the brakes! What?! Where are his moccasins?

I also remember this:

Crazy, right?

I was so emotionally involved in these 'public service messages' that I was sure my mom had a Drinking and Driving problem!  I needed to do something about this before it was too late. 

She could get arrested or something worse:

We were driving down the road and she had her usual beverage of choice

(no cup holders then, she was was actually holding the can between her legs)...

I burst out crying, telling her she shouldn't drink and drive....

This was dangerous!  She could kill us!

If she wanted, I could take over driving for her (I was 11)...
"Friends don't let friends Drink and Drive", after all:

Pause here for the praising I thought I deserved for saving us.

Instead...

She burst out laughing because this is what she was drinking:

There are so many more of these 'approved messages' from my childhood,

one that involved my sister speeding and me getting kicked out of her car,

but I'll save some time here and skip to the teenage years:

I have to admit that I was mocked for my forward thinking. 

Because once I started driving I always wore my seat belt:

Even before they showed us the horrific movies of dead bodies that

1: were stupid enough to drink and drive and/or

2: didn't wear seat belts
Idiots:

This all must have had a profound impact on me, and perhaps for other people, as well,

  because 20 + years later:

I have never started a forest fire:

I've already mentioned OCD concerning my teeth:

I am afraid a bow and arrow may kill me if a small scrap of paper gets away from me...

You will see me chasing it (sorry Gregg Deal):

Most people don't think twice about buckling up now (not to mention child car-seats laws):

I never got into a car with a drunk driver:

And, I'm okay that my kids have learned about Reduce Reuse Recycle:

But I think prodding my 3 year old to only 'eat organic foods' may be pushing it a little.

Only time will tell: