While looking for a bridge
to cross over tonight
Connecting time honored values
to internet blight
I thought and I pondered,
as I surfed on the net
But the things that it offers
are sadly abject
Where is the laughter,
the thrill of the chase
Through forest and meadow,
with all of your mates
Gone is the connection,
looking eye into eye
Replaced now with distance,
and its virtual lie
The children are programmed,
their bits and their bytes
With screens the new playgrounds,
their couches—their life
Where all of this leads,
I’m fearful to know
As I look for that bridge,
where our youth can still go
To return from the chaos,
to a welcoming time
Where friendships were made,
in a tree you just climbed
But the harder I search,
the dimmer it gets
Quicksand reinvented,
their souls it collects
Though cards stack against me,
I remain on my quest
The young are still worth it,
—and hope never rests
(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2017)
-
Author:
Kurt Philip Behm (
Offline) - Published: July 11th, 2017 09:54
- Category: Unclassified
- Views: 83
Offline)
Comments4
Great write
Thanks, Tony
Kurt, I don't have to say anything about your writing, we already know how accomplished you are!
As far as the subject you so beautifully talk about is concerned, you are so right. Can you imagine the kind of great time we would have if all the writers on this forum would get together for a week in a workshop, face to face, exchanging ideas, communicating, learning from each other.
Really great poem and as usual great writing.
Thanks, Fred. My 1st Book (The Death Of The Playground) which I wrote years ago (my only best-seller), talks about this. When the Public Playground's across America died, Free-Play died with it. Free-Play being play in the ABSENCE of parents and adults. In Free-Play, kids learn all of the basic life lessons that technology can't teach.
I was a featured author at the 'James River Writer's Conference' last October. It was, just as you alluded to, great to be face to face and see in the eyes of other writers the words they wrote.
I always appreciate hearing from you.
Kurt
Congratulations on your bestseller, it is something we only dream about. I just recently visited with two of my grand-children, ages three and five, and we went to public playgrounds every day (Encinitas, CA). There were NO small children unattended and even young teens were not there by themselves. In today's time we just have to protect our kids, something that was so totally different where I grew up. We kids were sometimes gone the whole day without our parents knowing where we were. But that was a small village where everybody knew everybody else. And obviously, we did not have any technology.
Nowadays parents know where their kids are based on cell-phone apps.
This whole thing speaks about an even bigger problem (IMHO), and that is a loss
of shared values. The reason playgrounds were safe is because everyone in
the community believed in the same thing. If you (I) got in trouble at school,
every mother on the way home yelled at you, followed by your mother, and then
those famous words..... 'Just wait until your father gets home.'
Today, if a kid gets in trouble at school, there's a good chance the parents will want
to sue the teacher or the school.
I gave up coaching (regrettably) because of the things parents let their
children exhibit in public. My asst. coach had a 12 year old tell him to go F#($\
himself during a game when she was pitching poorly and we had to put someone
else in. Her mother was keeping score along the 1st base line and never said
a word...in fact she never even looked up.
Dog trainers will tell you, "There are no bad dogs, only bad owners." I think the same
can be said for MOST problem children where parents are concerned.
Half of what I write I can't post on-line because it potentially alienates the generations
that come after ours. Every time I drop my grandchildren off at daycare—I cringe.
Television was the start of surrogated parenting and its mushroomed from there.
Dr Spock (and his permissive parenting) did more to hurt my generation than Vietnam.
Didn't mean to rant, but it''s a very unattractive picture moving forward....
Kurt
You are NOT ranting, everything you say is true. I remember reading about a kid's baseball game where two fathers were beating up each other. And I agree, the picture does not look good, but since we cannot turn back the clock, we have to make the best with what we have.
Excellent. What did our fore fathers think of our childhood interests and passtimes. On reflection, todays youngsters seem much further departed than we were from our fathers and grandfathers childhoods. A good and interesting thought provoking read.
Thanks
It gives one pause, as you so skillfully state. I can't imagine a childhood without climbing trees and playing board games. (Kids, ask a parent what board games are.) Fine poem, Kurt!
Thanks, Louis
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