Monday, September 1, 2008
what's up with bus stops?
okay, so here's something interesting to think about...over the last few years, whenever i leave my house, i have to drive by several bus stops on the way to campus...and when i return at the end of the a long day, same thing: bus stops. the kids range from what looks like first grade all the way to probably fifth grade...maybe older...and what's finally got to me is this: next to every kid at every bus stop is a parent. now, when i was in school in the 80's, my dad made me walk to the end of the street and wait at the bus stop...when school was over, we got off the bus down the street from our babysitter's and walked over to her house...then, when my mom got home an hour or so later from working 12 hour shifts, she'd call us and we'd walk home...by ourselves...in first grade...this is what we did, it wasn't unusual...everyone did it! no parents ever EVER waited at the bus stops with us when we were younger but now it seems that if a kid doesn't have a parent with them, child services is going to be called and the parent will be arrested for negligence...now, i think this is indicative of a greater social problem on our hands...i think the situation at bus stops is proof that sometime in the last 20 years or so, the amount of child predators and robbers and bad guys has skyrocketed to the point where no one is safe!!! if only there was some sort of computerized database wherein one can look to see if any of these criminals live around them, perhaps parents would feel better about having their kids walk to end of the driveway to wait for the bus, but alas, such technology does not yet exist and thus our kids are in mortal danger everytime they leave the house! something has to be done...maybe homeschooling for every kid? police escorts? how much more danger do we have to take before something gets done?!? when i was a kid, again in the 80's, the world must have been a much safer place...otherwise, why didn't my dad see the need to make sure we got on the bus okay? by the way, i'm being sarcastic but does anyone see my point?
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2 comments:
Our society today lends itself to paranoia. Just remember that these may be the same parents that turn on the tv/babysitter once they get inside the house. Outward appearances mean a lot to people.
You are battling two problems. The first being that people watch too much TV and read too many headlines about child abductions. I think that this is what you find it easy to get sarcastic about. But also, being a child of the 80's, I would have to say that our parents' ignorance was much greater than it is today. That ignorance could be either willful or completely innocent, but I also remember riding in the front seat as early as 3 years old. I know for a fact that seat belts were seldom worn in any car. People smoked while pregnant (more so than they do now...i hope). Oddly enough, despite all the negatives of the hair band era, people actually knew the names of their next door neighbors. Today, the average parent has no reason to trust the ten people in the houses next to them because we are in a self-centered society that says, "I don't have time for my neighbors. I am too busy worrying about my own needs and family." If you want to rant about people being fearful of their neighbor's intentions feel free, but you might do better to let the parents sitting at the bus stop know that you care about them and their children and you aren't going to let anything happen to them. It is community that we lack.
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