These photographs were taken on Christmas Day, 12-25-2009.In an average neighborhood. In an average town. In Fornicalia. This isn’t a ghetto, and it isn’t a gated community. It’s a place where there are modified one- and two-story homes which sold quickly. And where owners are challenged daily to take care of their homes and families.
I posit: WHAT IS MISSING?
Give it a moment before you scroll down.
Then give it another moment or two.
I have the answer.
And it will be shocking and obvious; both at once.
And it will reveal much about where we ARE as a society.
What is missing on Christmas day?
Answer:
Kids.
Kids on the street. Kids in the park. Kids playing outside. Kids using their Christmas presents.
With one major exception:
Kids in the United States are coddled, preened, smoothed, absolved, accommodated, set aside as some kind of miniature gods on pedestals.
They’re just kids. And they need to be slapped and shoved outside.
Instead of playing outside, America’s parents have purchased any number of computer software programs, phones, links and the like. Their kids are, thusly, occupied inside.
When I was a kid I got a bicycle, a skateboard, some Tonka trucks, a football, a baseball bat, Matchbox cars, blocks of wood, water pistols, and I ran over to my friends’ houses to find out what they got.
You couldn’t keep the kids inside.
And so there’s your Christmas, 2009, American parents.
BZ
Amazing, isn’t it? Outside? How dare you suggest kids actually play outside!
It’s a crazy world.
cjh
No Christmas decorations on the outside, either.
No kids, no decorations…
Very sad, that.
I agree, but there is a plus to this. The kids are off the streets and not getting into or causing trouble. The parents know where the kids are. Well, I guess they could be getting into trouble with their electronics, because some parents don’t know where the kids are on the electronics.
Hey BZ, Happy New Year to you and your faithful readers.
Happy New Year, BZ… are you sure the kids don’t all have hangovers?
I grew up in a small town in Louisiana. On Christmas morning the streets were filled with kids on roller skates.
No wonder American kids have a weight problem! They’re all locked up inside their homes.
In our neighborhood, the kids were out and about right after the pre-Christmas snowstorm. But on Christmas Day all was kidless here.
cj: It took me THIS long to figure out what was wrong with those photos.
AJ: you’re correct on that too.
Bubbles: hey, WELCOME aboard my dear, welcome to blogging, and please return! Hope your Christmas was good — as much as possible — and very sorry to read of your father.
FJ: hmmmm. . .
WoFat: you couldn’t KEEP us from going outside!
AOW: and that too is an excellent point. We are so insulated from the world and insulated from exercise and contact.
BZ
THAT is just plain sad… My grandson went out like a house afire with his new bike (actually missed a couple of presents) and came back about an hour later, after ‘sharing’ with all the neighbor kids. The other thing was no Christmas decorations anywhere that I could see.
Nailed it BZ.
And we cannot imagine the long-term impact on our society…
Obesity is just the most noticeable thing now.
CJ referred to kid’s social skills in her post for the day.
Not much good can come from isolating our young people. Do you see a way to reverse this trend?
I don’t.
It’s not just computers or video games. It’s doomsayers like certain people who cry that “the sky is falling”, your kids aren’t safe outside, they’ll be kidnapped and turned into sex slaves. It’s not just kids, either. Since 9/11 a lot of people avoid crowded places and “hunker down” in there homes “Fuhrer bunker” style and hide from the outside world. Get out there, turn off the frikkin’ TV and enjoy life. Step into some skis and hit the slopes, jump on a motorcycle, whatever. Life is a contact sport. Staying cooped up all the time makes you cranky and anti-social. My 15 year old son is 5’8″ and 135lbs, can can ski well, rides his bike, walks to his friends houses (some 2 or 3 miles away).
Maybe BZ needs to get outside and off of his computer! Cranky old man!
I was gonna say SNOW was missing, but that’s what you get from being born in Colorado and raised in the Midwest – and tossed out of the house as often as possible so Mom could get things done, like bread baked, supper made, the house cleaned… oh, wait, we had to clean the house as part of our Saturday morning chore list, before we could go out and play!
I know that park back in good ol’ district 4. I would rather see kids there too. Adam Walsh, Jaycee Lee Dugard, Elizabeth Smart. No one wants their child’s name on that list. The disgust with those that caused list to be made famous in manifest. So is the disgust with the fingerpointing.
The academics say Marx, Freud, Kinsey, Sanger should be our standard. The courts and the legislators agree. The result: Federal felony time for disturbing a clutch of eggs on a remote seashore, but a child in the womb has no rights. The lack of respect for the life of another is the foundation, the rest of the abuses follow on.
Abuse of the public trust and betrayal of confidential relationships was fine when the Pentagon Papers were leaked. Not so when the global warming scam e-mails hit the internet.
I did not think of this on my own: clean up your own act, keep your consicence clear, behave as if you had to give an account for your life right now, without notice or warning. And pray.
Could also be because it’s friekin winter, lol!
BZ,
That is some creepy stuff – pretty fascinating observation.
I also wanted to wish you a Happy New Year and thank you for contributing at RightCondition. Keep up the good work!
BZ,
Good call. I’m amazed sometimes from my almost daily contacts with schoolkids. They really are sheltered and don’t really have a clue about life. Of course, most of their parents don’t either.
After reading your comments here, it’s refreshing to hear that children still receive bicycles that are not part of a Wii. Who knew?
Happy New Year BZ. Here we go and I am so ready for 2010!
Hey, Bubbles, when I read your comment my first thought was – the parents of those kids who committed murder at Columbine knew where their kids were…
Life has become such a delicate balancing act these days; the cold fact is children disappear so how do you keep them safe? I wish I had the answer.
And Deaconbleu? When I was a kid the cold didn’t matter one bit. We bundled up and headed for the sledding hills often staying out most of the day.
cjh
Totally agree BZ. This is sad. NOt only because the kiddo’s have technical stuff to keep them inside, but because in reality on regular days they probably aren’t out much. People don’t have community like they did when I was little. We found a great neighborhood with community though which is rare.
Tim: I had to BE on my bicycle to take that second shot which, you’ll notice, isn’t quite level. Nyaaaaah!
Signed,
Cranky Old Man, BZ
Your neigborhood is too rich. Mine is full of the poor and believe me they were outside. Their toys were bikes and skateboards, not to mention that their houses and mobiles are small and moms tend to push them out. I live in a very small town so it isn’t dangerous such as the big city poor areas might be. I guess it is all where you live. Have a great new year. I’m new to your site. Thank you for blogging. Lorraine
Lorraine: actually, this isn’t my neighborhood. Mine doesn’t look like this at all. This is a neighborhood with which I am familiar in the Sacramento Valley not far from where I used to work. I biked past and made the observation. But if the kids were out in your area then, of course, that’s a great thing on any number of levels. But I tend to think your spot is the exception and not the rule. Kids are too darned isolated, IMHO. And, also, THANK YOU for visiting and taking the time to comment, and please return!
BZ
You are right, things have changed and the changes are not for the better. When I was growing up I was always outside and playing with the neighborhood kids. Like you I see little these days and its sad. I was raised on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi where my parents went to school and later taught. I recall walking on the campus at night during the Christmas season and hearing Christmas carols coming from the loud speakers atop the administration building. Recently I had occasion to visit the campus and you guessed it no carols. Many think that most all changes are for the better, nothing could be farther from the truth. But try and tell that to a youngster, the answer is always the same—your are old fashion and not hip. Sometimes I feel like the saying in the old song, “stop the world and let me off”, but then reality grips me and I know that tomorrow bring a new day and a new hope for all the tomorrows to come. I’m rambling–sorry!