Tuesday, June 24, 2014

"It's hard to act young when you are old


It’s hard to act young when you are old,
Act your age, stop acting like a child, how old are you anyway? I have heard something like this most of my life! Have you ever been told to stop acting like a child and why do children always want to be older? The truth is, those child hood years are the best years of one’s life, just try to tell that to a teenager.
Have you noticed, how a teenager always wants to start a job at the top of the salary ladder and go up from there? If you, an older worker, are earning $15.00 an hour the teenager wants $30.00 an hour. They have never had a job before and don’t know anything and can’t do anything, yet they think they are worth more money! 
They say, to stay young, you have to think young, but thinking and being young are two different things. We all put on a few pounds when we slow down and doctors will tell you to do two things to prevent it. First they tell you to stop smoking that is the standard thing. Then comes, lose weight. Have you noticed that it is always the thin young Doctors, which have never had this problem, is always telling you this?  If you have gained enough weight so that you haven’t been able to bend over and tie you shoes, you have a big-big problem. Welcome to my Group!
Back to being young. How much allowance did your parents give you, when you were growing up?  And are they still giving you an allowance? Paying your way through college or because you don’t have a job. You must be one of them rich kids. I never even knew there was an allowance that parents gave to their kids.
I had chores to do every day and I never even got a dime to go to a Saturday morning movie, we poor kids had to find old empty soft drink bottles and sell them or do some work for that dime to go to a movie.
Once at the movies, we had to sit and watch the rich kids eat their popcorn and candy bars.  Some parents gave big allowances to buy off their kids, it was called “Black mail”. If I was misbehaving, I received a lick or two with a leather strap or a stick. These days, parents will pay almost anything to not have a problem with their kids. Parents want to be loved, but they don’t know how to teach love.
Spanking was a way of life and if you didn’t get one or two a week, you have no idea what you missed.  These were things that built character, my character grew with redness and sore spots and I was a good kid.  Well, I thought I was!
I don’t remember of the girls ever getting spanked, but then, little angels are never punished. Could I have been the whipping post for them girls?
If Mother had a favorite, it sure wasn’t me. I always got the burnt piece of toast, the neck of the chicken, crumbs from the cake if there was any. Mom never spanked me, she just said: wait until you Father gets home and made me wait in the wood shed. When Dad got home, he had to rest for a few minutes and look at the daily paper. If he came to the wood shed feeling cranky, he was a bear. There was character in every blow and he would say, this hurts me more than it does you! Once, I almost said: than don’t do it!
The little Angles all went into their bedroom and covered their heads with pillows, so they didn’t have to hear me cry out. I wasn’t allowed to come back in the house until I had composed myself. Then no one would look me in the eye. I got so I enjoyed that part, as I knew they were feeling guilt. What was it that I done anyway. And was it all that bad? My father said I was lucky as his father used a whip on him. Grandma said he lied.
Dad, if you are reading this, pay no attention to
it !                                                                                  
By; Ben R.
June 2014
 

 

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