Paper Route StoriesRandom ThoughtsThere really is no rhyme or reason as to what triggers my memories or which ones I choose to express. And they come to me randomly and will likely be spewed out in the same manner. Here’s an example.
I posted the “Peeping Tom” incident on Facebook. A long-time best friend from that long-ago era commented (on Facebook) that John Judge had “virtually deputized” me in pursuit of the creeper.
I really hadn’t thought about it in that way. It seemed like any other lecture I might receive from any other adult. At the time it was quite routine to be accosted by any adult, anytime, anywhere, about anything that might trigger them; and we were expected to obey. Or at the very least not get caught doing it again.
So, I just thought John Judge was being overprotective in that odd way adults were about kids. I never saw any reason to be concerned with stray dogs or window peepers. It seemed like it was nothing to me at all. Yet I knew I had to take them seriously. Or at least pretend to. Because, to me at the time, adults got worked up about the weirdest things.
It was only later in life I realized that dogs overturning garbage cans and people frightened by creeps in the night were things that were not acceptable in a safe society.
The feeling of “neighborhood” and the welfare of all was something that slowly dawned on me as I grew older.
It seems an odd duality that we were virtually free to roam the world in search of adventure and yet the adults were forever watching out for us in ways we didn’t realize.
And now —— kids are hardly allowed to go out to Trick-or-Treat. People who let their kids play on their own are called “free range” parents.
For all the wonders and benefits of this modern age I think kids today are losing out on some valuable experiences.
And I think that sense of community is not what it once was. |
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