How did We Change?
Sometimes I think about how times were different when I was young. As a young boy in St. Louis I can remember how we use to pass the time doing trivial stuff. It was a given that we rode our bikes everywhere. we played in the alleyway mostly some sort of ball game, cork ball, hotbox, dodge ball, and handball, and of course basketball, that is if someone had a goal to shoot at. It was the life, your best friends were always there, the topic was about usually about baseball, or what we were going to do when school was out. Innocence was at a premium then, where did it go?I just remember the friendships that were forged, and the bonds that were tied at that time.Sundays were different too, everyone that I knew went to church, it didn't matter what church you belonged. Perfect attendance wasn't special, it was expected. Dinner was always as a family unit, sometimes with other members of family, aunts and uncles, or grandparents, but always family. I think, in my reflections, that was the good ole days, none of the clutter of of life as we grew up.
Sometimes, I think I miss the good ole days>
posted by jonroy @ 10:41 AM
8 Comments
8 Comments:
The Judds use to sing a song asking Grandpa to tell them about the good ole days. When we would sing the song with Daniel he would always end the chours by making up his own version, "Grandpa we're living the good ole days." It can't get any better than that.
The children are living thier version of the good ole days. I guess everyone's is different.
No, I understand exactly what you mean. I'm only 27, but things have changed so much since I was young. As you will remember, when I was around Eli's age, I was riding my bicycle around the neighborhood with my best friend, and staying out until the streetlights came on. In today's society, I can't even let Eli walk around the corner to the park by himself. I'll concur with your statement, "Innocence was at a premium then, where did it go?!"
Don't know if our childhood was the good ole days or not but we sure were safer. When kids we were on the farm and played lots of cops and robbers, cowboys and indians, and sat in the car making imaginary trips to New York and any other place we thought we probably never would be. Our very favorite memory is that the boys got a bicycle and we shared taking turns on it. We got brave and broke Maxine's Cardinal rule about not getting in the road one day. It had rained a lot and the roadside ditches were really full. Well, Maxine who has never learned to ride a bike, came charging out to the road, took the bike, was going to ride it back into the yard and instead rode it right into the middle of the ditch. She swears we didn't bother to find out if she was hurt or not, just wanted to know if she tore up the bike. (We will never let her live this down!!!!) The Lathums lived on Greer St. during WW11 and there was a vacant lot next door. We dug lots of foxholes and shot lots of bad guys. Heck, we practically won that war!! About the worst trouble you got into was if a ball went thru someone's window.
After we moved into town when I was 12, we lived on Dorothy St. (at that time was the SW corner of town) and I walked many times to High School on the NE corner of town. At night when we went to ballgames etc. there were a bunch of us in the neighborhood and went back and forth as a group. No one ever thought of putting us in a car and hauling us anywhere. Worst trouble we might have got into was I stood guard while Eddie WEbb and Icky Brown climbed the water tower. We didn't have but 3 or 4 cops back then so they weren't ever around. I get cold shakes now thinking how stupid they were and all that could have happened.
When our kids were young they were all over the neighborhood on their bikes. They had to be in our yard when the street lights come on and I've seen Jerry Lee breaking the speed limit to get there. That started during the wheelie bike craze and then when Jerry Lee had the first BMX bike between St. Louis and Memphis and all of his 13 best friends had to have one too, they were never off those bikes. Of course, that developed into our opening the store after a few years, and the rest is history. I went home from work one day and there were 29 boys tinkering on bikes in my carport and "Big Jerry" (as the kids called him) was right out there in the middle of it. The girls would be holed up in Jill's bedroom playing Barbies. I about always knew where my kids were and everyone elses. I use to refer to our house as the Broadway Youth Center. About that time we also had a lot of cats around and Jerry really frowned on me referring to it as Freshour's Cat House. Wonder why!!!!!!!!!
In our neighborhood, bikes have given way to scooters and the ubiquitous skate board. Instead of playing in the neighborhood park, kids play in the 2 large church parking lots close by, skateboarding, dodge ball and an abbreviated game of soccer are popular there, so is inviting all their friends to come to vacation bible school. They still play basketball and hop scotch, but now-a-days everyone has a hoop and chalk. Instead of going to the creek to swim, they swim in their own pool or in a friends pool. No "skinny dipping" for our kids.
Our neighborhood is safe for kids after dark. We know because they ring our doorbell in the middle of the night just like we did when we were kids pulling pranks.
Times have changed but kids still manage to be kids and have fun, just as we did, and still do twice to three times the homework to maintain good grades in this accelerated time. They'll have memories just like we did and our parents did and our grandparents did. They too will worry about their children in "today's society", but let's hope that we are doing our part as parents and grandparents to make their childhood as uncomplicated, uncluttered, and as safe as we remember ours to be.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane June. Not that I remember any of that, but it was entertaining to read.
And Max I agree with what you wrote. Times will continue to change and today's society could be pretty scary cuz it wont be long before I'll be the one worrying so much!
We live in a very safe part of town, but I still wouldn't let Eli out after dark. I was robbed at gunpoint my 2nd night in Nashville (2001), in a "safe" (at the time) part of town.
We do invent our own ways of having fun and creating memories, though, and that's really all that matters!
Sorry to hear that you had such a terrifing experience when you moved to Nashville. No place is safe when you have been robbed at gunpoint in the area in whice you have chosen to make a home.
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