Today's kids don't know the freedom we had

By Dwight Williamson

We are living in what must be the scariest time that nearly any of us have ever witnessed. My concern is mostly with the younger generation, especially the younger children, who cannot fully understand what is going on in our barely functional society. School kids, including high school and college students, are bumfuzzled as to what lies in their future from one day to the next. Parents are undoubtedly frustrated, especially those who try to work for a living and cannot afford to stay home with their smaller children.

Today’s dilemma makes me realize that while growing up, I really didn’t know how fortunate I was. As I recall, about the only thing that put a scare into this coal camp kid and others was when the word got around that there was a rabid dog on the loose somewhere in the neighborhood — a neighborhood that we thought consisted of miles in both directions of the road that sliced through our coal camp.

We also were forewarned by parents and neighbors about playing in the surrounding hills where there could be “mining breaks.” For those who don’t know, a mining break is simply an unintentional opening above a coal mine below. I recall of many deer falling into an abandoned mine, and of hearing their waning cries beneath the earth.

I remember learning about what had to happen if someone killed a mad dog that was usually found to be slobbering at the mouth and thought to have rabies. Fortunately, I never witnessed the action, but the dog’s head had to be cut off and taken to Logan to what I believe back then was the Health Department, where employees there somehow determined if the animal was indeed rabid. If found to be rabid, we were warned, the person bitten by the animal would also go mad, a thought none of us relished.

Aside from the fear of mad dogs, parents allowed their children to do just about anything they desired — venture into the hills, climb trees and swing on grape vines; build cabins; camp out under the summer stars in sleeping bags; wade the creeks; go blackberry picking in summer; build bonfires and roast potatoes in the ashes, or marshmallows in the flames; shoot bb guns (stupidly, at each other sometimes); play inside parked and empty coal cars, and we placed coins — usually pennies — on the rails to be flattened by oncoming trains. For us, freedom was not just a word found in the U.S. Constitution.

Riding sleighs down hillsides in the winter and peddling bicycles during summer was a seasonal highlight in addition to playing whatever sport was in season — be it basketball, baseball or football. When a parent would say “Go play outside,” that’s exactly what we did.

Not all outdoor activities were organized and sometimes we just relied on our imagination and energy. For most of the girls, playing with “Jacks,” playing “Hop Scotch,” “Jump Rope,” and “Mother May I” kept them busy, while the boys were more into activities like “Lost Trail” or “Tin Can Alley”, usually during evenings and nights. Of course, playing marbles was mostly a guy’s thing to do, but “Hide and Seek” was played by all. Apart from marbles, exercise was a hidden pearl of health resulting from these community endeavors, not that we realized it.

It is terribly unfortunate that during today’s times parents are afraid to even allow their kids to play much outside of their homes or other lodgings due to rampant drug use, with possible drug-infested needles lying on the ground in too many communities. Kids need to be encouraged to enjoy the outdoors, especially during this pandemic period. It just needs to be done safely.

It saddens me when I enter a local store and see small children having to wear facemasks. Perhaps the youngsters should not be out in public at all, but I also realize some parents have no choice in the matter. Not everyone has a reliable babysitter.

With schools in so much jeopardy and uncertainty, I can’t help but wonder what will come of it all. Teaching virtually is not going to work for far too many school kids, some whose parents or grandparents will not be able — for one reason or another — to assist in the learning process. At the same time, one must be concerned for the children, teachers, principals and other school personnel, if kids return to school in person. In short, I do not envy school board members or other educational leaders who must try to remedy a situation in which they have no real control of.

Unfortunately, in the long run it will be the kids who may lose out from both an educational perspective and an emotional perspective, as their world has been turned upside down, more so than even our own.

Just think. About the only time kids enjoy wearing masks is at Halloween. And it appears that holiday will likely not be observed in this crazy year of 2020 — the year of the masks.

Dwight Williamson is a retired magistrate in Logan County. He writes a weekly column for HD Media.

Published with permission.

Today’s kids don’t know the freedom we had

Articles by Dwight Williamson on this site.

CommentCancel reply

Articles by Dwight Williamson on this site.

Share this:

CommentCancel reply