I am also a late 60's model...

Some childhood memories.

My dad worked at the local airport it was way out in the country back then. When I turned 8 or 9 years old. He would drop me off at the airport junk yard just across the taxiway from the main runway with a brick of .22 LR ammo and an old lever action .22 rifle. I'd spend all day shooting cans old burned out runway lights and other assorted junk. The airport manager would come by and encourage me to shoot any rats that were seen. At 1700 dad would come pick me up and we'd go home. That was the best babysitter ever invented.

And you know what? I never once did anything stupid or dangerous the whole time. We didn't have school shootings back then and even at that age I was a responsible member of the community who could be trusted with things like the privilege of using a firearm.

School yard games included my personal favorite called smear the queer. Also known as dodge ball but we played it with a tennis ball. We'd also play army and shoot and "kill" each other all the time. Many of my teachers were WWII vets, both of my grandfathers were and we were darn proud of it and tried to emulate them in all things.

My first bike was a green Schwinn Stinger with a silver sparkled banana seat. The day I got the training wheels off of and could "bank" it in the turns it became my personal P-51 Mustang which I rode 3 to 4 hours a day everyday on some kind of combat sortie to keep the neighborhood safe from the Third Reich or invading Japs. Sometimes we'd have to switch and my beloved Mustang would become an ME-109 so that the other kids could get a chance to be the good guy in the dog fight.

It was 6 and 3/4 miles from my house to the school. I'd ride it every day that the weather was good enough. My parents never gave it a second thought and as long as I was home 30 minutes after sunset which was everyday unless I went home early to get my BB gun and it was all good.

Here's one that would floor your average modern day school nanny. I used to regularly show up to school during hunting season with either a shotgun or rifle in the rear window rifle rack of my Pick Up during hunting season. And of course so did just about every other boy at school. It would have never occurred to us not to. If some little weirdo would have ever started shooting up the school he would have been a DEAD SOB real quick as a 150 guys ran to their trucks to grab .30-30's off the rack.

If you had an unresolved issue with another kid you could take it to the gym teacher and he'd supply the boxing gloves and let you two duke it out until you both came to a mutual agreement on who the winner was. And that was the end of it. Bullies don't last long when you can call them out like that.

It was a different time. And it wasn't that long ago.

After reading Airhoss' post, I couldn't help but share what one my "daydream" passions were.

As a youngster, I used to collect used airline tickets. I collected tickets from Eastern, National, Delta, Piedmont and Mackey Airlines. I think I had one or two from PeoplesExpress as well. I must have had about 40-50 tickets. To make a long story short, my Dad worked on his Ph.D. at Michigan State from 1970-1974. I'll never forget that he use to fly on Delta....the DC-8 Super 61 or63 series. I can remember watching that aircraft take off from 9L/27R.....soaring into the sky. What I would do when I got home, was to take my red hard plastic model of a DC-8 (purchased from Woolworth Dept Store) and would imagine flying that plane from West Palm Beach to Michigan State and points beyond. I use to make so many of those make believe flights/trips, flying the airplane around the house and going outside to continue the flight until I arrived at my destination. Those were the days.

The other point is similiar to what he said about confrontation. In the Hood, if you had a fight with someone back then, and I'm 47, you fought and if you got slammed...meaning you lost the fight....you just got slammed!!! At least you lived to see another day. A few days later, you and the person who fought were back on speaking terms and in most cases, became one of your best buds. Today kids want to go to the their car trunks and pull out an array of weapons. Crazy and sad.


atp