Back when I was a young lass, the winters were colder and the snow deeper. Getting to school meant walking 10 miles uphill and barefoot at that! I had to carry my lunch in an small tin pail and it was frozen by the time I got to the school. Then I had to help the other children haul in wood for the wood stove and keep my coat on in order to stay warm. We said the Pledge of Allegiance and sat down afterwards giving the teacher our full attention. We didn't have smart phones. We didn't text one another. We listened to our teacher and obeyed. Yep, those were the good old days. We said prayers and we read the Bible. If anyone stepped out of line and no one did, they would get a whoopin' from the principal. When school was over, I would walk the 10 miles uphill barefoot home. Yes sir! Didn't have time to goof off and play or listen to music or watch tv. No sir! It was work, work, work!
Okay, so that is a bunch of bs, but that's what a lot of people would say today. How many times have you seen a post on facebook talking about God in school, Pledging Allegiance, and working all the time? I know I've seen it way too many times! The truth is I didn't walk to school; at least not until we moved into town and I wasn't barefoot. I rode a bus to and from school when we lived on the farm. Now, I kind of believe the winters were colder and the snow deeper, but that is due to the greenhouse effect on our climate. This has in turn made warmer winters and not as much snow.
Some days I took my lunch....those were the days when my thermos was filled with chocolate milk! Yummy! Other days I would buy lunch in the cafeteria, those were the hot lunches but I was stuck with plain old milk. Chocolate milk is sooooo much better! And Friday was pizza day!!!! So much for the frozen meal! Nor did we haul wood into the school. It was warm....most of the time, but quite often sweaters were a wonderful piece of clothing. Hey, our school had a boiler to keep it warm and, well, boilers weren't that great.
Now we did say the Pledge of Allegiance, but how many times does one say it before it becomes obsolete and spoken by rote rather then by understanding and appreciation? Prayers were definitely said, every time there was a test, but we weren't forced to pray. We weren't told to pray. We just prayed when we wanted to. Can you imagine what it would be like to be made to pray, especially by someone who didn't believe as your family and you did? Kinda scary. We read the Bible too. When I was in 8th grade, I think it was, we could take a class for English concerning the books of the Bible as literature. Yes, we had to have permission from our parents, but that is okay. Parents should be involved in their children's education. I would think they would be the most important people to make sure you were receiving an education. Then again, many parents then and now believe that isn't their responsibility, it's the schools and teachers jobs to do that.
And yes, sometimes fellow students were sent to the principal's office and were spanked. I didn't believe in that then and I don't believe in it today. Tell me, what exactly does spanking do? Really? What does it do? Is it suppose to inspire respect? Responsibility? Stop naughty children? Does it? Did it? NO! All it does is reinforce the use of violence as a means of control and power. That's all it does. Nothing more. How many times were the same kids sent to the office and receive the same punishment. It didn't do anything. Violence begets violence and creates a vicious cycle that's all it does . There are other ways to discipline, and one of the best is to teach. Not yell, not react out of fear or anger, but to calmly take the child aside and teach them. Speak to them and show them acceptable ways. If a primitive gatherer culture can do this, why is it so hard for our "advanced" civilization to do it?
Now, we didn't have cell phones, but we wrote notes, and passed notes, and talked and signed, and should I even go on? What's the difference between today's cell phones and our notes? One thing, we could only talk to the kids in that classroom, no one outside of it. Big difference. Yeah, right! No difference, same stuff, different year. Oh, and we had time to play! We goofed off, we had fun, Oh, and I rode the bus home. I played, I had fun, I had chores to do on the farm, but I was only a little kid so, they weren't heavy duty chores, but I could and did do them. I loved to feed the calves. Feeling their tongues as they lapped my hand while I gave them their pail of food was fun! And feeding the cows was fun too! When the chores and supper were done, there was homework to do and time to watch tv, or listen to music, or read. In my teens, quite often I did all three at the same time. Nowadays, I'm not quite as coordinated, I admit it, so I only do two of the at the same time.
Truthfully, the good old days really weren't all that great. It's the people I miss, from those days, not the other things. In reality, I am glad to be in the here and now than in those days of racial discord and equality fights. Oh wait, that's going on now isn't it? Hmmmmm. Seems that not much has changed. Anyway, have fun, enjoy today and laugh about the past, but please for God's sake and our children's don't wish that kind of crap on them. Instead, let's have fun with our future and give them time to learn and time for us to share with them our dreams, lives, hopes, desires, and love. Have fun and don't forget to play, it's very important to have fun and laugh!
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