On any given day, long ago, in almost every city and neighborhood in this country there was the noise of children playing outside. It was the sound of laughter, chatter and sometimes dares and double dares, and between the chatter barking dogs affirming their presence. It was a sweet, innocent, comforting sound that let you know that families live there.
Growing up in the sixties there were challenges. It was an iconic era of controversy and growth for the United States. Young people everywhere were willing to learn about others from different cultures and ethnicities, showing love, understanding and tolerance. They were a shining example for the adults.
Although I wasn’t a teenager yet (I was in elementary and jr. high during that decade) I saw a lot and remember a lot. I saw things change and growing up in the south, some stay the same. There were problems and young people wanted to solve them. Nothing seemed to hard for the youth of that day and era who spoke of making love not war. They were and still are people you could look up to and my heroes.
Those were the good old days and even with the problems we were having as a nation, things were much simpler then.
On a weekday between 8:15am and 3:00pm every child was in school. Whether elementary, junior high or high school, it was a set time all over the country and the one way in which they were all alike. Once that 3:00pm bell rang and signaled the end of the day, it let us know learning time was over and that’s when the fun began.
You raced home, changed your clothes and did your homework before you headed outside. Something that seemed to be a written rule from parents everywhere was do your homework before you went outside…and generally it was. Our parents told us what to do and we did it. Again, much more simpler times.
Some kids didn’t even have to have a snack before going outside because they were still full from lunch.
Awe…school lunch. It was a healthy 3 course meal that resembled dinner, along with dessert and a milk. Sometimes you even got the chance to have chocolate milk and when that happened kids were in hog heaven.
The food itself was tasty and delicious and enough to hold the average child until dinnertime. Some kids brought their lunches from home but the clear winner back then and what everyone strived to have I might add, was school lunch. It was like winning the lotto. It was that good.
Children loved going outside. They played hide and seek, hop scotch and double dutch. They rode bikes and roller skated up and down the block. They watched birds and caught lizards and frogs, and they even dug in the sand for doodlebugs, something I think may be extent today. Those little insects always left a trail behind them in the sand, which is how we knew where to find them.
Boys and some girls competed at marbles where the best would end up with your hummie. We climbed and hung out in trees where we’d sit on a branch hidden from the world or so we thought, and talk about some of everything. It was something every child tried and usually mastered.
Almost every child was a natural born explorer, something they all were deemed to be at the time. There were woods near by and abandoned houses that needed to be explored. For every set of woods there was a walking trail carved out in each one, even if just for a short cut through them, but mostly for investigating them. Abandoned houses were not crack houses. There was no such thing back then. They just didn’t have anyone living in them yet and was never locked. Another sign of the times.
Children used their imaginations and built forts and club houses from old cardboard boxes and left over wood and they were quite good I must say. They learned creativity by using their imaginations. 
Every neighborhood had a crew. Crews that would challenge other neighborhood crews in track, football, softball or basketball. This is where you found out who was top dog, as we used to call them. It was friendly competition, with trash talk of course, and it was what we all did.
It showed us that if you wanted something bad enough, you had to work hard for it and be committed. Nothing was given to you. There was no such thing as giving a losing crew a title simply because they participated. Something they do for kids today…and we wonder what’s wrong with them?
The crew that became top dog held the title until another crew took it away from them. And to do that they had to work for it. They had to run faster or play whatever game better. There was no fighting and no shooting as they do today. That only shows you as being a coward or a sore loser and we didn’t want to be either one of those.
Children stayed active and that activity lead to healthier, leaner bodies and minds. They could stay outside until the street lights came on without having to worry about predators. Awe…simpler times.
Don’t know what it is today, why there are those who wants to harm and take away a child’s innocence. So much evil in the world.
But God is still on the throne. He sees all and knows all. It breaks his heart to see what the human race has come to and he still wants the best for us. He sacrificed his only begotten son so that we may live and that we may live more abundantly. He supplies grace and mercy for us everyday.
There’s good and evil in this world. We make choices, and for every choice there’s a consequence, sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s bad. It baffles me when you hear people say, why did God allow that to happen? Know that God did not make us into robots, we have free will to make a choice, and our free will is what leads to whatever the outcome may be.
Even during simpler times there was good and evil, however evil seems to have gotten more rampant these days which tells us the end is getting near. Are you ready? I hope so…and although the simpler times are gone we can look forward to a better day when we will all be in paradise with Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 15:13
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
