Innocent And Fun

What was he thinking?!

When I was a child of the first grade my daily concerns were limited to completing my class work, getting through the lunch line without dropping my lunch money and ignoring the bullies on the playground.

At home my brother and I watched television, listened to old records on an old phonograph, and we played with toys and games. As we grew our television viewing changed, reruns of “The Lone Ranger” was as popular as new episodes of “Bonanza” and “Gunsmoke”. We even watched some “Big Valley”. Of course, there were reruns of “Star Trek” [which we didn’t actually realize were reruns - not at first] and the new episodes of “Planet of the Apes”.

Our toys and games changed too. ‘Go Fish’ became ‘War’ and ‘Rummy’. “Chutes and Ladders” became “Monopoly” and “Aggravation”. Years later we entered our billiards and poker phase. For me, checkers led to chess and backgammon. For me, word finds grew to crosswords which sparked a flare for “Scrabble”. We even graduated from “Pong” to “Atari”, about the time “Six Million Dollar Man” and “The Bionic Woman” were on our must-watch list.

And, my brother and I had our action figures. Though at the time I don’t recall either of us using the word action. They weren’t dolls for boys, no sir. Dolls were for girls, even ‘Barbie’s’ mate, ‘Ken’. G.I.Joe was around even before my brother and I were playing. We played with our G.I. Joe’s {I still have the tackle box!}, our Planet of the Apes, Lone Ranger and Star Trek action figures. We had play sets and vehicles and uniforms and accessories.

I don’t imagine any of it was terribly expensive, even for the time. Mom managed to fill our living room every Christmas and our birthdays weren’t without reward either.

My brother and I did all right when we were children.

When we were ‘old enough’ our cowboy phase entered it’s final stage. We had our very own pistols, holsters and hats! And, we weren’t just waiting for Halloween. In time, we had rifles to go with out pistols. Our bikes became horses. The pistols grew from plastic noise making things to metal things with working cylinders and blasting caps! The rifles too went from plastic to metal, real rifles blasting air.

When ‘S.W.A.T.’ and ‘Emergency’ came on-the-air my brother and I found new heroes to portray. Yup, we role played – without playing cards, dice or boards. We had swords and lasers and shields to enact books we’d read. We had gear to rescue hostages and shoot criminals. We had kits to treat the wounded and ill. With ‘Kung-Fu’ we kicked and chopped and shurikened all evil-doers in our way.

In time we grew-up and the day came when what little remained of our playthings was packed away. I kept “Monopoly” and “Aggravation”. I bought my own backgammon and chess boards. My brother and I bought our very own pool cues, mine is in my bedroom closet today. The Atari and all it’s paraphernalia were passed to oblivion. So too went the action figures and their accessories. Likewise, all the plastic guns and “junk”.

But, the toy box remained. In it we packed away our guns and uniforms. Much of the metal had become chipped or rusted. The felt of the cowboy hats [which my Pop’s parents had bought for us] worn and dirty. The gun belts were frayed. We cleaned it all up as best we could and packed it all away into that toy box, appropriately decorated with a cowboy on horseback. At the time, the toy guns of the day had became all to realistic in appearance. And, toys and games had become more like battle preparation, soldiers marching to war.

In all our youth, I never once thought of having a real gun. Given my brother’s first post high school career, I can’t honestly say I believe he never thought of having a real gun either. But, I can say, that neither of us thought of having a real gun and bringing it to school.

Not once.

Not when were in high school.

Not in middle school.

Especially, not in grammar school.

So it is with great distress and horror that I read this morning’s headline: “6-year-old boy carries gun aboard Batavia school bus”.

I don’t care where he got it. My only thought is why did he have it? Why did he bring it to school? Why doesn’t he have toys and games and action figures? Why is being a child no longer innocent and fun?

Speaking Frankly by Lewis