Will B.From another time

I guess I am old because here comes the “when I was young”. Ha Ha. If You can’t laugh at yourself then you have the wrong attitude.

When I was young and it was summer time we would leave the house in the morning and sometimes not return till nightfall. From time to time, we would bring sandwiches but not always mind you. We didn’t starve because we missed a meal. We were young and having the time of our lives.

Some days it would be a day at the creek fishing for catfish with bologna or hotdogs from our sandwiches. Some days it was bb gun wars in the woods. An all-day event that left us peppered with little red dots. Some days it was building a fort and holding top secrete meetings outlining the rules of the club.

When I was young, very very young we ate dirt, drank from the hose, ate berries and the occasional fruit right off the tree or bush. Still do eat berries thanks to Lens mulberry tree outside his bed and breakfast in downtown Olney.

I ran barefoot everywhere, no shirt some days in the bright sun light of a hot Texas summer and swam in creeks and ponds. Sometimes we did these things because they would push us out the house and lock the door and told us to “go have fun for the day mom has a headache”.

Guess what, I survived and have some special memories for it. I suppose those days where a different era altogether. What I see now a days makes me worry a bit. People afraid someone will suffer irreparable damage for not eating in a 12-hour period. People are afraid or worried about all the wrong things in my opinion.

There are many life lessons that should be learned through hardship or not getting what you want every second of the day. Going hungry for 12 hours or even a day teaches an appreciation of the food you have. It teaches a person to have compassion for those without food. It teaches the value of wasting food.

I learned these lessons very well when I was very young being from a poor family living in the slums of Tulsa, OK. Dirt poor, government cheese, assisted living etc.... But what we had in spades was good times. We were very thankful for what we had and each other. We created great memories running amuck and creating things to keep us entertained. Of course, those good memories stopped when I was sent off to live with my dad in Texas but that’s another tale.

Back to point at hand, people especially young people can learn valuable lessons from doing without. Of course, I don’t mean starve anyone to death. But to miss a meal because you are acting up or miss a meal because you have been gone all day and are just trying to make it back home because it’s late is perfectly acceptable. No grave crime has been committed. People and kids are a resilient lot and will survive through some pretty rough situations, like not getting a snack or meal in a 12-hour period.

This is Will B. saying most lessons are learned through attrition and experiences that we go through. Trust the process people.