Thursday, September 20, 2012

Is Progress Really Progress?


Some of you have heard me talk about dropping flowers off of a bridge when I was little and recently about the old swimming hole we use to go to when I was younger. I thought I would revisit that subject for a little bit. Sometimes I think about all the things I use to do as a kid and all the simple pleasures we use to have that my nephews and nieces will never know about. This is for two reasons that I can immediately think of off the top of my head. First these types of places just don’t seem to exist anymore and second people just don’t think that way anymore.

Years ago I was at a meeting with one of the doctors I worked for and she was making the comment that her children were not allowed to watch TV and play videos games. Well, I immediately asked her why not and she said, “I want them outside playing in the yard and doing things I use to do as a child.” I asked her why they should be limited to things she use to do when times have changed so much. I told her my mother use to play with syrup bucket filled with sand on a piece of bailing wire, but she wanted something better than that for us. I don’t have any kids, but I think I understand where she was coming from now. Though, I do wonder if she really wanted her children to experience those things or if she was somehow trying to recapture those feeling and experiences for herself.

On hot summer days we would always head to the creek to cool off with Momma and Daddy. It was on a dirt road filled with old wooden bridges. We would sit on the edge of the old bridges and catch spotted channel cats with cane poles. This wasn’t a short visit, this was an all day event and the entire family was included. Momma would always pack lunch and we have a watermelon with us. Momma would always float the melon in the creek to cool it down. She would tie crochet thread to the little pigtail on it and secure it to the bank to keep it from floating off downstream. Watermelons float very well in a creek, unlike a full bottle of whiskey which is a whole nuther story. That was a very disappointing day for my Daddy, his brother and his cousin Ted…

We had so much fun on those days and it was such an uncomplicated happiness. Sitting on the tailgate of a 1955 GMC pickup truck riding down the dirt road dangling our feet and legs as we rode. It wasn’t unusual for us to spend hours at the time doing this. And, we were perfectly happy to do so.

Some time back, on a trip home I decided to pay a visit to some of these old places, just for the memories and hoping to catch a glimpse of those old feelings. It was very disappointing to see that several of those dirt roads are now paved. No more wild yellow plumbs growing in the ditch, all of the old huckleberry bushes uprooted and torn away to make room for the shoulder of the road. But the old “Creek Road” was still there, only for me to find the scene below at our beautiful little creek and swimming hole. This is the view from the old bridge where I dropped the flower heads in the stream 40 years ago.

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Please forgive the quality of the photos they were taken with an older camera. The old swimming hole was about 30 yards down the creek in the woods. I know we need to have progress and things can’t stay the same, but it seems to me somethings should just be preserved. The Creek Road is still dirt, but it is now filled with people living in mobile homes and most of the land has been cleared. So how do you balance progress and preservation? Seems to me at some point, time should just stand still. Other than medical benefits, how much of it is really necessary…

7 comments:

  1. This saddens me too Randy. There are so many places like this. People don't have any respect for the out of doors. Maybe if they were able to play outside more they would appreciate it more.

    I am a parent. When my children were young the video games were just beginning. They had limited tv and game time. I felt like the dr you mentioned. I don't think it is good for children to not get out and get fresh air and exercise.

    I must say both of my children love and respect the out of doors. I don't know if I can say the same about my Grands. They live such a structured life. SAD.

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    1. Lisa,
      I have never understood the concept of littering and dumping trash in public places. What idiot would dump something like a car hood in a water supply? Not only is it filled with appliances and trash it’s almost completely dried up. It was once about two feet deep all the way across and when you walked down it, you were in a huge cascading tunnel of mountain laurel blooms. The crystal clear water and flowers were gorgeous.

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  2. Great story Randy. When I went home for lunch today, I noticed that yet again someone had thrown their trash out on the curb in our shrubs. This is a weekly thing. I don't understand why people can't use garbage cans and why they think that an area with plants is a good place to dump their stuff.

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    1. Phillip,
      You would like to think that they are just ignorant, but sometimes I think they do it out of meanness just because they see how beautiful and well maintained it is. For a while a couple of years ago I noticed on the mornings after I had meticulously cleaned my yard they day before I would keep finding the same brand of beer cans in my yard. Unfortunately another thing I have going against me is the position and length of my driveway seems to create a wind tunnel between my house and the neighbors and all the trash from the street blows right up my drive. The good thing is it stops when it hits the fence so it’s easy to collect. BUT if some litter bug hadn’t tossed it, it wouldn’t be there to begin with.

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  3. How sad to see this mess where you had such good memories. I too wonder if my kids will treasure their experiences like those I had when I was a kid but like to always think that they have experiences too but they are unique to them. In other words. what brought me so much pleasure might be different for my kids but still just as valuable. So yes, kids hopefully still make those memories and while not at this creek they are somewhere else down the road a bit or in some other back country creek. Even my son found a creek around here where he swims so those places are still around. Hang in there and remember it as you saw it as a kid. The floating watermelon and thought of your whole family fishing and hanging out sounds so sweet. A nice tidbit about you.

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  4. What a shame that your memories are now soiled by this trash and someone's carelessness. Of all the transgressions people are capable of committing, I don't know why I find littering harder to understand.

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  5. I often go back to the old home I grew up in as a child. I so wish I never had to see it in the condition of today. The large veggie garden is long gone to asphalt. The rose bushes along the fence are no more. The peony, Iris, sweet pea, Wysteria and other fun plants of yesterday are no longer around. Just an old battered untended to house with dirt instead of pretty grass. I dread the day I drive past there to see the beautiful 100 year old Ginkgo Tree cut to the ground. I know that day is coming. Even seeing all the destruction and neglect of a once beautiful old farm house, I shall hold those wonderful memories of playing in the backyard with my brothers and Tonka Trucks while surrounded by blooming beauties. The old creek we use to wade in is no longer the full stream of clear water it once was to us kids. But again, as much as it saddens me to see it today, I have the memories of yesteryear. May I hold those memories until the day I die…

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