Someday.......

I dropped my son off last night at a high school dance, taking a glimpse at the social bonding that occurs in teenage years. My first inner thought, Oh! I would never want to go through that stage of life again. For many who grew up in a family where children care for children, you are
robbed of childhood. This can occur in rather large families as well, as responsibility weighs heavily on the eldest children.

The sun had already set and a shadow of darkness blanketed the evening.I looked on at the lanky, awkward bodies, maturing yet not quite adults. Bouncing back and forth between, the atmosphere of the evening and the days of my own teenage youth. I remembered such insecurities and this struggle to find my place in it all. I smiled warmly as I remember one of the few dances I attended. Applebee was the first boy that would ask me to dance. The lights dimmed, the soft music playing and the words “ how I waited for this moment.” Timid and
a bit shy, I smiled as he took my hand and we danced, we talked for a bit and it felt like the song would never end, or as I laugh, I couldn't wait for it to end.

I felt a greater appreciation for this current time of my life. I thought out loud, I would never want to relive those teenagers years. The additional confidence and wisdom that comes with age, experience and self acceptance. The 60’s were such a time of rebellion and I remember feeling caught in the change. From the little girl who was not allowed to speak, to a march for peace, from dresses and penny loafers to girls in jeans and boys tennis shoes. The worse thing that happen in school was if you were caught chewing gum or talking to much, but times were changing and drastically.

Every generation places their era on life’s scale of justice, was it a better or worse time for people as a whole. I again thought about my own children,how much has really changed from my youth to theirs.Vietnam war, now a war in Iraq, fashion dictated by the industry, now fashion freedom. Though some things seem to have escalated, drugs seem to be more prevalent and easier to get. Children capitalize the industry more as they definitely are the marketers aim.

In many ways not necessarily responsible ones, children of today are truly in a age where childhood is lost quickly. TV’s are the baby sitters for the very young, video games the tools of isolation and violence. It catches you saying “when I was a kid”. If we have not learned from history and as they say “history repeats itself” what does our future hold? A scary thought I might add. Then I had to remind myself of all the good that has happened in my lifetime, vaccines for polio and many other diseases, the discovery of antibiotics and all over medical miracles. This new era of openness, reveals how little we have come in world peace and how far technologically. Always room for improvement. I am optimistic as the world becomes a whole lot smaller,we will learn to respect and appreciate more the cultures that are melding quickly into one. For we are not all that much different.

Someday... I believe that separtism will no longer exist,

my blood is red, what color is yours?