Coprolite Newsletter, September 2003

Kids get the young bodies
but youthful minds are ours

It’s time to tell a little secret about aging. There’s quite a bit of evidence that the only real youthfulness these days is found among people my age and older.

Old folks used to say it was too bad that youth was wasted on people too young to appreciate it. That may not be entirely true any more. Oh sure, youthful bodies are still doled out to the same age group as before. But these days youthful attitudes often appear to be distributed to a much older crowd.

Kids no longer get much of a chance to be young. Grade school children carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. Literally.

Doctors report an epidemic of juvenile back problems because kids’ backpacks are so loaded down with books, assignments, computers, and grooming aids. Now there are formal guidelines on how much weight can be piled on these tender shoulders.

And when kids totter home under the weight of their responsibilities, what do they do? They attend play-dates arranged by adults. They participate in sports governed by Little Leagues with uniforms, coaches, and referees. Their little day planners are crammed with meetings, practices, and tournaments.

Oh, I can see how it all came to be this way. The backpacks are heavy because parents and teachers want to provide kids with all the skills and tools they’ll need to succeed in their demanding future careers. As for that over-organized spare time, caring adults have set up all those programs to amuse kids and develop their muscles while guarding their safety in these chaotic and dangerous times.

It’s just too bad that today’s youngsters are missing the spontaneity, fun and adventure we had when we were their age.

My generation had it lucky. Our spines were not bent by heavy packs. At the most, we grudgingly carried home a couple of books and notebooks. There were no calculators, computers or Harry Potter lunch boxes to lug. Certainly, none of us felt the need to tote stuff around to beautify our hair or prevent zits.

After school, sports were played in streets or vacant lots with teams chosen on the spur of the moment. We would have died if an adult had come along to boss us around as coach or umpire. That would have turned sports from play into some kind of after-school chore.

Disputes over balls and strikes, penalties or fowls were negotiated (at the top of our lungs) by the entire group. We invented instant replays. Although we lacked video, we developed the ability to mime disputed plays after the fact, over and over again if necessary.

Having grown up under these conditions, my generation probably lacks the respect for organization that one needs to adjust to life in a modern bureaucracy. We’re more inclined to experiment on our own, to try new things just for the fun of it, to question the rules. Doesn't that sound like a description of youth?

Our childhood tradition of loud but harmless conflict probably makes us a bit more likely to be naughty about minor regulations. I’m inclined to think, however, that it also makes us much less likely to snap and fly into a lethal rage. That sounds like youth too.

“Old age is not for sissies,” my 93-year-old father often points out. He’s right when it comes to physical and social matters. But if you judge by enthusiasm, imagination, and the ability to create their own fun, a lot of people in their “second childhood” have a better deal going for them than those who are still struggling through their first.

––Wayne Adams
wayne@coprolites.com
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