The Carefree Days of Childhood

Ah, those carefree days of childhood.........

I recall when I was growing up, Saturday was the time for visiting on the square. The merchants always kept their stores open late and usually enjoyed a pretty hefty business. Of course, when I was growing up, there wasn’t a highway running right through the middle of town so the kids could run all over the shaded, circular, park like area. We would climb over the benches and chase each other until our faces were beet red and we would fall over on the grass to cool off. Parents would sit around visiting in the park or stroll around the square, stopping occasionally to window shop or go inside to see what new merchandise was on display. In the early years, there was a bandstand, and as I recall, there was always band music being played by the school band or occasionally, an older person who was still young at heart and enjoyed playing their instrument of choice.

When I was a child there wasn't the fear of kidnapping or drive by shootings. What fun it was to play hide and seek on the square with so many old buildings to hide behind. It was particularly fun at dusk when the street lights came on. We would hide and wait for the shadows of a friend hunting our hiding place. As their shadows grew closer, we would jump out and everyone would run screaming with excitement.

Cold weather didn't deter folks from gathering on the square. Everyone just wrapped up, putting on their mittens, caps and brightly colored scarves. Kids would chide each other seeing who could blow the most hot air into the cold evening atmosphere. When December came, merchants began decorating their windows, brightly colored Christmas lights and candy canes. Some had "Merry Christmas" painted on their windows. We would stand so close to the windows with dreams of Santa Claus in our heads that our breath would fog up the windows. Sometimes flakes of snow would begin falling and we would stagger around with our mouths open to the sky; tongues stuck out, hoping to catch the cold flakes. When we were chilled to the bone, we would go inside one of the stores to warm up and listen to the Christmas music that was playing in most of them.

I have often wondered if the generations that have come since could be entertained as easily. Have we grown so accustomed to being mesmerized by the TV or the internet that we have forgotten how to visit with our neighbors? Are our activities so organized for us that we run ourselves crazy with one parent carting one kid to soccer while the other takes another child to dance? Then everyone falls into bed exhausted from all the activities. Is there no time spent together as a family just enjoying each other without having our cellphones set on ready and certainly within arm’s reach? Do we even know our neighbors or the merchants in town? Do we even care to know them?

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”Mark 12:30-31 NIV