I agree. I was born in '82 but I played outside most of my childhood. My family didn't have money so I didn't have nintendo's and all that good stuff, neither did any of my friends so we grew up much like the story explained.
The world sucks now. I agree. There's no freedom. The government has their hand in everything and obviously they're doing a pretty bad job of things judging by how terrible the economy is. When I have to choose gas over rent money it's a problem and I certainly don't feel protected by my over bearing government. Shit if they're gonna take all my rights away from me for my own good the least they could do is provide me with a decent life.