STICKS AND STONES

STICKS AND STONES    Bob Christin
Today’s kids are not allowed to play with a stick in the backyard. George Carlin

Leagues are organized today
for boys and girls outside of
school to kick and hit and
catch balls using bases and
nets, baskets, goal lines,
under supervision of referees.
All wear bright uniforms with
insignia, use protective gear.
Schedules for moms and kids
include dance and music and
tae kwon do lessons. Kids
and moms lift schedules
heavy as corporate executives,
conflicts, changes penciled
in an oversized calendar.
For kids growing up,
something is missing here,
an essential hands off
even to let kids do nothing.
to leave them time to stare
out a window, to lie awake
at night to dream with no
agenda, to discover ways
to have fun minus the plans
and programs of teachers,
parents, and umpires.
When I was a kid before
we had a sandbox Grandpa
built, we played in backyard
dirt with trowels, sticks from
trees, stones from the alley.
We played cowboys in vacant
lots filled with wild flowers
and weeds, using tree limbs
for the sheriff’s office, lots
all over for criminals to hide.
Without a real football we
wrapped wire around old
newspapers for a pretend
ball we could not kick but
did use for thrilling passes
one to another. We tackled,
no protective gear. For
basketball we cut out the
bottom of a bushel basket
nailed to a telephone pole,
tossed through it large rubber
balls. We enjoyed impromptu
fun, often sitting on the curb
to laugh at each other, to try
to figure out teachers and
parents, why we were all told
to sit straight, move slowly.
be quiet, and then told to
act our age, which we thought
we did well.
Bob Christin Ju