One thing I really enjoy talking to people about, especially the young folks, is that while I never grew up in Mayberry, I did have a very real Mayberry-like childhood. I grew up in a very small town during a time when I basically lived without fear. My friends and I knew nothing about drugs, gangs, or bullies. The only violence in our lives is what we saw on TV or the rare movie that we saw, and that violence was extremely tame when compared to the massive and graphic violence in today's movies and TV programs. We did take guns to school though, but they were our toy cap guns that we played with at recess time.
Many times in my childhood I got in a car with a stranger when offered a ride home when I was walking in the rain. I may not have known the driver, but I knew just about every car in our small town. My friend and I would walk to the next town using the railroad tracks as our pathway. The keys to our cars were left in the car ignitions so we would not lose them, and as for our house keys, we never had any need for them as we never locked the doors. Like little Leon, my friends and I would wander all over town completely on our own. We didn't need to carry watches because a loud siren blew at noon, six o'clock, and at nine o'clock. So we always new when it was time to head home for lunch, supper, and bedtime. Most of us had very little compared to the more wealthy kids in town. But that was the way it was and we didn't feel that it was unfair or that we were owed what others had. There were no Toys for Tots at Christmas. We accepted what we got and were happy for it. We received no free lunches at school. If we could not afford hot lunches, we either carried a bag lunch or we went home at noon for lunch. We ate a lot of plain macaroni as some days we didn't have much food in the house. We didn't received food stamps and there weren't any food pantries. We also learned our lessons the hard way. When I broke my nose and ended up in the hospital for surgery because I wasn't suppose to play football at recess, my parents didn't blame the school - they blamed me. When I was severely burned when my neighbor friend started the barn on fire, my parents didn't sue our neighbors - my parents paid the bill themselves even though we had no insurance. No, I did not live in Mayberry, but the many Mayberry-like experiences I had as a child helped teach me many important life lessons. I learned that I was not owed anything. If I wanted something I had to work for it. I learned that most of the mistakes I made were my own fault and I had no one to blame buy myself. I learned that growing up in a small rural village during the late fifties was a great place to be a child. Everyone in town was my neighbor. I knew everyone and everyone knew me. A friend from my hometown recently sent me over 300 photos taken back home from the years 1885 up to 1975. I am having so much enjoyment seeing so many old familiar places and faces that helped me become who I am. And because us Andersons are rather sensitive, I have admit that I have shed more than a few tears while looking at all those photos. -- Ken Anderson The Mayberry Guru 2906 May Street Eau Claire, Wisconsin 54701 www.themayberryguru.com www.mayberryreflections.com _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list [email protected] http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
