Street lights

Yesterday, I stopped at a playground with the girls. I don't know how they weren't exhausted - all day at school, then a Girl Scouts meeting and they were still able to run and climb and jump for an hour before dinner. Anyway, there was the sweetest little boy there and the girls played with him for a bit. While they were playing, both girls ran over to tell me that the boy was at the park by himself. You had to see the looks on their faces. They were utterly amazed that this kid was allowed to take his bike and ride across a street to the park and play there alone. He comes here all the time! one whispered. Can you believe it? I can't believe that a seven-year-old is allowed to ride his bike in the street! the other one said. I swear, all they wanted to talk about was his independence. Meanwhile, he wanted to play zombies or army or something equally fascinating. Oh, it gets better. He told them he didn't have to go home until the street lights came on. Wh-wha-what??? Their jaws dropped. Okay, I guess it is a big deal for them. We don't have street lights on our road and there is no way my kids are crossing the street alone because people go way too fast and it's a pretty busy road. I'm from a time and place where we did stay out until the street lights came on. Heck, most kids I grew up with left their house after breakfast and didn't go home until they had to eat lunch or dinner or maybe use the toilet if they couldn't find one closer to wherever they were playing. Wouldn't it be nice to live like that again? Wouldn't it be nice to not worry about crazy people and people who drive past stopped school buses because they're texting (yes, happened to me and my little one the other day). Wouldn't it be great if our kids could just go outside and play? When I think of all the things I did and places I went when I was a kid. We hopped the fence and played in the park. We had fun and we were together and we didn't worry about all the horrible things that happen in the world today. And why is it that all those things happen? Why has the world gotten so evil and criminal and perverted and hideous? We all talk and talk about how bad things are getting and how we wish things could be like they were 50 or 40 or even 20 years ago. Yet, we do nothing about it. We do nothing when our government takes God out of school. We do nothing when we are attacked for saying Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays. We buy the slutty clothes that designers make for our little girls. We read the trashy magazines that glorify pornographic stars like Britney Spears. We buy into the culture that lets a teacher or a firefighter make one-tenth of the salary of a rookie ball player. Gotta stop blaming the system, my friends. If we're not part of the solution, we're part of the problem. Think about it tonight - maybe while you're outside playing until the street lights come on.