Facebook has connected me with a number of personalities from my past. I say personalities because whereas the names are familiar their actual character is unknown to me. It has occurred to me that either I wasn't paying attention, or I was just minding my own business. I'm thinking about my youth, from kindergarten through high school. I don't recall many instances were religious or political views and opinions caused any issues. Yes, there were a couple. Once I brought a Nazi flag to school, it had been captured by an uncle of mine while serving in the war, and that flag upset some of the Jewish kids. That's when I learned about that. Another occasion was the Kent State thing. We had an assembly about that. In my view all it accomplished was to get people upset. It almost started a physical confrontation as I recall. Still, for the most part I had no idea about what the other kids were thinking about that stuff. Mostly we just lied about our exploits. Call it being creative with the storytelling.
A two or three year difference in age was a big deal during that time. The "big" kids didn't hang out with the "little" kids. I barely knew the brothers and sisters of my friends, they either being too old or too young. I knew little if anything about what they were doing and saying, unless of course, they were in trouble in some way. We always talked about that. It was a bad thing back then, getting in trouble, it didn't entitle you to much, mostly getting punished for that behavior. You certainly didn't call out your teachers or the principal making any demands. We didn't have activists back then, we had troublemakers! Kids that were acting out. I'm guessing some of those kids were just saving it up for later on as I read some of their postings. Maybe it was those that went to find themselves. I'm thinking they got lost though.
For the most part your family name defined who I thought you were. What I mean is, I was told stories by my parents and others about your family. They may have been a family of fishermen, farmers or business owners. Each group was a bit different, what we may call "cultural" differences today. The haves and have nots. We had those that lived on the fringe of society and those that thought they were society. Cultural stereotypes is what I'm thinking about. Personalities.
We had some that were living "above" their station and some that just didn't care at all. All that was reflected in the little cliques in school. It did change slightly year to year during elementary school when we had different classmates, a sort of forced integration. In high school that changed and became more of your choice to associate yourself with. The "in" crowd, the "the smart kids" the "sports guys and girls" the "band members" and then all the other little sub-groups. Ideally you were cool, tough, smart, and had money. I didn't have any of those things.
Were we just naive? Or was it that we were just minding our own business? Is that such a bad thing? I can honestly say I wasn't too concerned with what anyone else was doing as long as it didn't interfere with what I was doing. I was vaguely aware that there were other kids that held different views and opinions than myself, but I didn't feel any need to correct them. Everyone is entitized to make their own mistakes. That philosophy was summed up with this old adage, you made your bed, now lie in it. Who you vote for isn't my business. Who you are attracted too isn't my business, unless it is me. What God, God(s) you worship isn't my business. All of that becomes my business when you make it that way. And in my experience that will never be met with open arms and a welcoming gesture. No, usually the reaction isn't a good one. And what I have learned over the years, is that is why I wasn't hanging out with those folks in the first place. It wasn't anything personal, just a cultural thing.
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