The Stick

I know by writing this I will be officially filling out my application for “geezer-dom”, but sometimes I’m overwhelmed by how times have changed. I grew up with stories of shoeless hikes up icy inclines by individuals that were so determined to reach their unheated one room school house that they often left their lunch bucket containing a single piece of lard coated cornbread to ruin by the wood stove! This was certainly compounded by their having to leave in the morning before daylight to accomplish the 20 mile roundtrip and possible Indian or bear attack, but they were a determined group. Sounds crazy huh? Well even when I was very young I understood that although these stories were somewhat of a stretch, I did have an easier life than my predecessors…and I was grateful.

I thought of this yesterday as I watched two boys of nine or ten cruising the smart phone display at Walmart. I eavesdropped as they discussed the pros and cons of each model in a way that would have made Bill Gates or Steve Jobs proud! Ok, it did make me feel kind of stupid as well, but given the fact that I only learned to text a few years ago, it really wasn’t that hard for them to lose me. I’m ok with all of the technology that is available today and honestly I love it! But watching a kid of this age use a palm sized computer that is more powerful than the ones NASA had only a short time ago still amazes me. To think that they would like to go outside and play cowboys and Indians like we did makes about as much sense today as them playing…tree surgeon!

But that’s what we did. For the most part we played outside with little more than a few sticks and some imagination. I will admit that with all of the cool gadgets available to kids today this sounds boring, but we enjoyed it. Given the fact that it was now so much warmer than it was in my grandfather’s day, and that we had shoes to wear while we rode the bus to heated school that served a hot lunch, we were pretty sure we had it made! Ok, we didn’t know any better, but there was bliss in our ignorance.

It would be hard to pretend that your normal outside stick was a 4G- phone or a Play Station lll, but luckily we didn’t have to imagine that. Oh, if you want a stick, a real stick, you can order a Harry Potter magic wand online; I’ve seen them and they are probably better than a regular stick. Ours were guns, swords and every now and then, a magic wand; a universal poking stick. But I really think the key point here is that we used our imaginations to determine exactly what the stick would be. There was no way to be wrong, or lose. They weren’t preloaded with software, and a competition for a high score was not possible. Yes, the graphics were horrible! We couldn’t sit a few feet apart and text or email each other with the sticks; we were reduced to actual conversation. I often wonder how we survived.

Don’t get me wrong, I think all of the technology available today is wonderful. When the kids of today are my age they will be the smartest ever and I can only imagine what they will come up with; this excites me. But I think a little down time with no more than a stick and your imagination is invaluable. Batteries not included; some assembly required.