Sunday, September 25, 2005
Safety Sucks ASS!
As I watched TV this weekend I noticed something that made me both nostalgic and sad. I was watching “Secondhand Lions” and it was towards the end of the movie, Oh and if you haven’t seen this please rent it, it is one of the best movies out there, funny, fantastical, and heart warming. So anyway it was towards the end of the movie and since it was set in the late 1950’s early 60’s the cars in it were the old tanks. The giant gas guzzling, oil burning baby seal skin interiors, the works! And in these old cars some of which carried over into my youth was built a back deck big enough for a child to lay on.
The back deck for us , my brothers and me, was a place to fight over. A place to be yourself. A place to stretch out and call “YOUR” space, at night it was an observatory, during the day a warm place in the sun to take a nap, or pumping your arm in the air trying to lure the truckers into blowing their big air horns. My older brother and I were the recipients of all of this imaginary fun. The younger brother was born during the “holy shit what are you letting your kid do? Isn’t that a good way for them to get hurt, you must be the worst parents in the world” syndrome, so he didn’t get the opportunity to see the world pass him by through a slightly curved back slab of safety glass. He would never know the joys of making faces at the passing cars, taunting them with a well placed tongue waggle, or even getting the ire up of the little girl riding with her mother with the classic tongue sticking out / thumbs in the ears finger moose antlers face. Alas we loved the torture of the passing motorist. (Later in life I found that giving the same people the finger was even more effective in pissing them off but that is a whole different story.)
So as I watched this movie and thought of the fun in the rear window of those tanks I became sad knowing that the liberal law makers have once again fucked up the beauty of youth. Nowadays if your kid is under the age of 16 it seems that they want them strapped into a safety seat and buckled in with a 5 point harness. Gone are the days of trusting your parents to NOT put the car into the side of the bus full of nuns, or to not end up upside down in a ditch. Gone are the days of standing on the bench seat of the old Buick leaning on your Dad, one arm thrown around his neck as the 3500 lb tank floated over the open road. Gone are the bonding moments when dad would let you steer that tank from the safety of his lap as you careened down the road.
I became sadder by the second as I watched the big blue car in the movie, knowing that the kids out there are having their imagination crushed by safety.
Be better parents, break a law or two once in a while for the sake of the children.
Please.
Thank You.
PS:
I'm an Elephant
What Animal are You?
The back deck for us , my brothers and me, was a place to fight over. A place to be yourself. A place to stretch out and call “YOUR” space, at night it was an observatory, during the day a warm place in the sun to take a nap, or pumping your arm in the air trying to lure the truckers into blowing their big air horns. My older brother and I were the recipients of all of this imaginary fun. The younger brother was born during the “holy shit what are you letting your kid do? Isn’t that a good way for them to get hurt, you must be the worst parents in the world” syndrome, so he didn’t get the opportunity to see the world pass him by through a slightly curved back slab of safety glass. He would never know the joys of making faces at the passing cars, taunting them with a well placed tongue waggle, or even getting the ire up of the little girl riding with her mother with the classic tongue sticking out / thumbs in the ears finger moose antlers face. Alas we loved the torture of the passing motorist. (Later in life I found that giving the same people the finger was even more effective in pissing them off but that is a whole different story.)
So as I watched this movie and thought of the fun in the rear window of those tanks I became sad knowing that the liberal law makers have once again fucked up the beauty of youth. Nowadays if your kid is under the age of 16 it seems that they want them strapped into a safety seat and buckled in with a 5 point harness. Gone are the days of trusting your parents to NOT put the car into the side of the bus full of nuns, or to not end up upside down in a ditch. Gone are the days of standing on the bench seat of the old Buick leaning on your Dad, one arm thrown around his neck as the 3500 lb tank floated over the open road. Gone are the bonding moments when dad would let you steer that tank from the safety of his lap as you careened down the road.
I became sadder by the second as I watched the big blue car in the movie, knowing that the kids out there are having their imagination crushed by safety.
Be better parents, break a law or two once in a while for the sake of the children.
Please.
Thank You.
PS:
I'm an Elephant
What Animal are You?
