“WE GREW UP ON HOSE WATER”

If you had the privilege of growing up in the 1960’s or 1970’s, you were given some of the most incredible lifetime experiences any kid could imagine. It was a glorious time. You were free in ways you could never imagine today. You really didn’t know how good you had it back then.

As I look back at my own childhood, I would say that I grew up “feral”. Just think back to the times when you were told by your parents to “go outside and find something to do”. So I did just that. I explored vacant lots and got soaking wet wading through meandering brooks and streams. I rode my bike through uncharted neighborhoods and met other kids who were just as adventurous as I was. I investigated old junk yards, avoiding chained up pit bulls, and scoured through smelly garbage dumps for hours at a time, hoping to find some loose change or a rare misplaced diamond ring. I was never bored. I was independent! And, not once did I ever think I would contract some evil life-threating disease. After all, I had an immune system and I just hoped it was working well that day.

There were very few days growing up that I felt empty or lonely. I had a huge family of siblings and too many cousins to count, and I made and kept friends. Even on days when the weather didn’t cooperate, I found many things to do indoors that didn’t involve TV.

I learned how to find purpose and direction, sometimes from total emptiness. Whether it was in a secluded corner of the basement, or out back in the tool shed, I managed to find time to read books and explore the world with my mind.

Today’s kids are “hooked on technology”. They spend countless hours on their phones, tablets, iPads and computers, constantly bombarded with artificial entertainment, being shown what the media companies want them to see, hear and learn, while squashing their very sense of creativity and curiosity.

I, like so many of you reading this, learned to take risks early in life. I loved to climb trees that I knew were definitely too high. I enjoyed throwing rocks at things, just to improve my aim and to better develop my hand-eye coordination. I, like almost every other kid I knew, loved to set fire to things… just because; but never to intentionally cause harm or destruction. That was a learning experience for us kids. Getting into mischief was our “internet”.

Every scraped knee, every knot on the head or black eye was a life lesson that kids can’t get from Kindles or smartphones. Those were badges of honor and valor that you cherished as a rite of passage to adulthood. You don’t get those from tapping on a keyboard.

Yes, to me, the 60’s and 70’s were glorious times. I managed risks by living through them, not watching them on a screen. I learned to thwart boredom by reading books from library shelves and listening to music for hours on my $25.00 Sears record player. I learned problem-solving and coordination from building cities with my Lincoln logs and Gilbert erector sets.

I also loved working with my hands. I loved building things out of wood and learning how to use my dad’s tools. I also built plastic models. I built cars, boats and airplanes, spending hours painting and detailing them to make them as authentic as possible. And then I would set them on fire!

As kids growing up in the 60’s and 70’s, we also learned another attribute lost on today’s youth: how to be patient. We had to wait a whole week to watch new episodes of our favorite TV shows. We had to wait even longer to get back our developed pictures taken with our $10.00 Kodak Brownie cameras, and sometimes became frustrated because of a misplaced thumb in the image, or an unsteady hand that resulted in a blurred mess of a birthday cake candle-blowing moment. And if I forgot my friend’s phone number in my head, I had to consult mom’s handy-dandy phone number rolodex sitting next to the phone on the table.

I loved growing up when I did. I wasn’t overly supervised and I valued that independence. Even as I write this, I can’t imagine how much freedom I had. The kids growing up in the decades before me didn’t have half the luxuries we did. They didn’t know what leisure time meant. Before World War II, most kids who were lucky enough to be able to go school still had to do chores before and after school at home. They had little time for play or socializing. Those raised on farms had it even worse. They had to help out with the farm work at least six days a week, and Sundays were the only day they might have had some time for rest or play.

Today, we have it quite easy. Today’s technology is amazing. We can find out answers to questions in seconds at the tap of a button, instead of utilizing a 13-volume set of encyclopedias. We have GPS instead of a foldout Sunoco street map to guide us. We can get news at a moment’s glance instead of waiting for Walter Cronkite’s 6 PM evening news broadcast. Sure, these are great time-saving gifts, but at what expense? Just look at the lines of people everywhere with faces lit up by their phones. No social interaction, no face-to-face discussions, sitting next to someone on the bus with nary a word exchanged. How sad!

Today’s kids are imprisoned by their extreme anxiety of not being accepted by their peers. I blame social media. Sure, acceptance is wanted and needed, but it is also earned. Like a budding friendship, it required time commitment, work and effort by both parties. It also required personal interaction, not just “face time”.

Put down the phone. Go out and explore your world. Stop texting and pay a visit in person. Hide that PlayStation 2. Try to limit your online presence to one hour a day, and for God’s sake, go outside and take a drink of water from your garden hose. It won’t kill you!