The Innocence Of Youth
It can often be fun for me to reminisce about my childhood, and the days of my youth. I was fortunate to have a good childhood, that came with a lot of memorable friends, and an absolute perfect neighborhood to grow up in. The neighborhood was filled with married couples just like my parents, all around the same age range. With many of them having kids my age, it just became a gem growing up with the old gang. My street, and the streets around the blocks just flourished with characters my age that made for endless adventures. Especially in the summertime.
It’s an interesting fact when we are young, especially very young, that there is just so bunch of an abundance of knowledge, that we just don’t have yet. We may be smart for our age, but we are never as smart as we think we are. Nobody is. But as kids we were smart enough to survive, and know the basics.
My time was a great time, and the timing was perfect. I was born at the end of the basic age, and at the birth of advanced, fancy technology.
I could enjoy awesome memories of having 4 television channels, TV going off the air each night, listening to am radio, going to video stores like blockbuster to browse wrestling vhs tapes, using an array of encyclopedia books when I needed to look something up for my own information or research, having home phones that were rotary dial and we never knew who was on the other line calling, and it didn’t matter.
I can remember a time when there were visitors who would drop in, ringing our door bell, and we weren’t afraid or suspicious of who it was at our door. I remember when people smoked cigarettes in restaurants, churches, and hospitals. Speaking of cigarettes, I remember when there were 50 choices of brands, and a 13 year old could go to the cornstore to “pick up Dad’s cigarettes.”
I also, have a fondness for today’s luxuries, smartphones, caller ID, 1,000 television channels, google, wikipedia, etc etc. I do love the instant news, and having a computer in my hand all day long. I feel very lucky to have experienced both types of life. I was born in 1977.
It’s important for me to have those memories, and engage in them, and embrace them as often as I can. I have grown a great appreciation for not being as smart as an adult when I was a kid. I am glad I didn’t know about addiction, depression, anxiety, heartache, racism, and hate. Afterall, if you took us dozen neighborhood kids, each one of us looked nothing like the kid next to us. How wonderful is that.
We were all different, but the neighborhood made us the same.
I’m glad God gives most kids the opportunity to live a bit of life, with an innocence of a simple mind, with a basic appreciation. With less worries than an adult, hopefully less pain as well. As much as I appreciate today’s technology, it’s still a shame that a kid has to have an iphone today. I didn’t even have a beeper until my early 20's.
It’s an amazing thing, how a kid knows less and has a happier time with more fun, than a smarter, experienced adult has with their life. It’s the inevitable for all of us. The sad part is, that we don’t have this information, or this heads up as a kid. We don’t know what we are part of living and experiencing, until it’s already older, and it’s time for us to grow up.
-End
-By MICHAEL PATANELLA
