I know that sounds like a redundant statement. But I have noticed as the years have gone by, and our society has changed over the last 50 years, that people seem to have lost track of what a boy is, how a boy thinks, behaves, and feels.
10,000 years ago boys were savages. They played with rocks and sticks; they ran, climbed, chased, and fought. All of those activities prepared them for survival. Every day of their lives they fought. They fought other humans; for safety, for food, for survival. They fought wild animals; for safety, for food, for survival. They fought the sun and the wind and the rain, and the cold, the very land itself; for safety, for food, for survival. The ones that were the most successful (warlike) survived, the ones that were least warlike didn’t.
1,000 years ago boys were savages. They played with rocks, and sticks, and swords; they ran, climbed, chased, and fought. All of those activities prepared them for survival. Every day of their lives they fought. They fought other humans; for safety, for food, for survival. They fought wild animals; for safety, for food, for survival. They fought the sun and the wind and the rain, and the cold, the very land itself; for safety, for food, for survival. The ones that were the most successful (warlike) survived, the ones that were least warlike didn’t.
100 years ago boys were savages. They played with rocks, and sticks, and swords, and guns; they ran, climbed, chased, and fought. All of those activities prepared them for survival. Every day of their lives they fought. They fought other humans; for safety, for food, for survival. They fought wild animals; for safety, for food, for survival. They fought the sun and the wind and the rain, and the cold, the very land itself; for safety, for food, for survival. The ones that were the most successful (warlike) survived, the ones that were least warlike didn’t.
Tom Brokaw made a huge amount of money describing “The Greatest Generation”. The media loved the imagery. The media sucked it up. And yet, everyone seems to fail to make the connection here. Everyone fails to see the experiential building blocks that heavily influenced that generation.
The Greatest Generation was born into the poverty and hardships just before the great depression and grew to adulthood in adversity. They made due without, and learned to repair what they had, or modify it to fit their need. As soon as they could walk they had work to do, chores, jobs, tending livestock, and growing gardens. They were spanked, and punished, and lectured. They hunted and fished, used sligshots and guns, and played mumbly-peg with pocket knives that went with them everywhere. They fought, every day of their lives; they fought the Dust bowl, the depression, the Nazis, and the Japanese.
In essence; they played with rocks, and sticks, and swords, and guns; they ran, climbed, chased, and fought. All of those activities prepared them for survival. Every day of their lives they fought. They fought other humans; for safety and for survival. They fought the sun and the wind and the rain, and the cold, the very land itself (the dustbowl and the great depression); for safety, for food, for survival. The ones that were the most successful (warlike) survived, the ones that were least warlike didn’t.
When I was a boy I had a job folding towels at the dry cleaners in town, mopping the floor and washing the pots at the bakery, emptying the trash and cleaning the toilet at the garage, throwing papers, shoveling muck and mud at the car wash, and many another “roll up your sleeves and get it done” type jobs. I had friends that picked crops, dug ditches, and mucked out horse stalls.
I ran and played, rode bikes, swam in the gravel pits, gigged frogs and snared crawfish in the arroyos. I climbed trees, and fences, and buildings and rocks. I threw firecrackers, made marble shooting cannons, hunted for rabbits, and quail, and duck.
I was seldom inside if the sun was up, and often not home when it got dark. And my parents always knew where I was supposed to be, but not always where I was.
And then, suddenly, about 50 years ago, someone, somewhere, decided Darwinian selection was wrong. They decided that those experiences that had created tough, resourceful, self-reliant men were the wrong experiences.
Today, boys are expected to be quiet, gentle, tidy, and sensitive. They aren’t allowed to play with rocks and sticks, knives, or guns. They aren’t allowed to run, climb, chase, or fight. The warlike are punished, shunned, and degraded. They are expected to, well let’s face it, act like gentle demure, quiet creatures.
I have watched society remove, one after the other, all of the experiences that grow men from boys. No running at school, they might hurt themselves; No dodge ball at school, they might hurt others; No sports at school, because competition is evil; No BB guns, slingshots, firecrackers, knives, or guns; No before or after school jobs.
The experiences that made men from boys for centuries have been eliminated; jobs, chores, hands on mending and fixing, fights, and physical challenges have all been systematically taken away; and yet, society can’t understand why boys don’t grow up.
For those of you who haven’t been around boys, or those of you that are just learning to spell; boys is a four letter word spelled ADHD. Yep, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. That spells boy every time.
Turn back the calendar, turn the boys loose, let boys be boys; rough, bruised, hurt feelings and all.
The greater the tempering, the stronger the steel.
Copyright © 2013 - Marty Vandermolen - All Rights Reserved
