Bravo Vic!
Message: 8 Date: Sun, 23 Aug 2009 04:17:47 -0700 (PDT) From: Victor Friskey <[email protected]> Subject: Living the Mayberry way To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Last Sunda my pastor was gone on vacation and being a retired pastor I was asked to fill in. I chose the absence of Thomas from the other diciples as a message and focused on what he had missed from that gathering. After church a couple of guys and I got into a conversation of what the young people are missing today compared to 'The Good Old days' I lived on a 160 acre 'poor man's farm' but we didn't know we were poor because no one ever told us we were. Our house was heated by coal stoves in each room. The upstairs had no heat and in winter I had to scrape frost off the window to look out.. We walked a mile to school every day there was no bus so no snow days. We drank water from a well and had to tie a rag around the spout to filter out the worms and bugs and dirt. NOBODY EVER GOT SICK. In summer if the water was too low in the creek we swam in a large concrete horse trough the cows drank from. I seldom wore shoes in summer except to bale hay. I got sunburned but never worried about UV rays and there was no such thing as sunblocker. In winter we had no 200 channel TV's or nintendos or IPods. we were outside working or making snow forts or tunnels using or own imagination. The teachers cared about their students and visited every home at least once a year. There were no child proof lids and we rode byclcles without helmets, cars without seatbelts or booster seats and it was a thrill to ride in the back of a pick-up truck. We play hide and seek, Andy-I - Over. we jumped from haylofts, trees, and roofs. We got scratched, cut , broke bones but nobody ever got sued or was threatened to have their children taken away. In school we used a #2 pencil ballpoint pens were taboo. If we got caught misbehaving we went to the principles office. I got caught throwing spitballs and had to chew a 5Lb coffee can full as punishment at recess. It took me two months to fill that can. There were no lawsuits if a teacher smacked us with a ruler or a book. To get to school functions we rode our bikes or walked, there were no 'Soccer moms'. When things were plentiful we didn't waste. when they were scarce we did without or conserved. If parents had to raise their kids today like my parents raised me they wouldn't. if kids today?had to live the lifestyle we lived then they couldn't. But we had freedom, failures, successes, and responsibilities. We asked for nothing from the government but was always ready to help at a moment's notice. We were proud and we made do and we SURVIVED.? Thomas may have?missed a lot not being with the other diciples but not as much as I miss those Mayberry days on the farm. Vic David L. Browning The Mayberry Deputy 200 McArthur Circle Bristol, VA 24201 276-669-2411 "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." Dr. Seuss (his first book was rejected 27 times) _________________________________________________________________ Get back to school stuff for them and cashback for you. http://www.bing.com/cashback?form=MSHYCB&publ=WLHMTAG&crea=TEXT_MSHYCB_BackToSchool_Cashback_BTSCashback_1x1 _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list [email protected] http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
