A little foolishness once met a little correction, often from a cop who knew your father and a mother waiting on the porch. We lost balance when all misbehavior became either shrugged off or...
Mischief Used to Have Limits, and So Did the Consequences |
A little foolishness once met a little correction, often from a cop who knew your father and a mother waiting on the porch. We lost balance when all misbehavior became either shrugged off or treated like a case file. |
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News for the America we remember |
On Halloween the whole town smelled like fallen leaves, candle wax, and pillowcases full of cheap candy. You could hear kids running two streets over, that high excited racket of sneakers on pavement and somebody laughing too hard. Somewhere a roll of toilet paper had found a maple branch. Somewhere a bar of soap had written something unprintable on a store window. Somebody rang a bell and took off. Somebody tipped a trash can and then thought better of it halfway down the block. Mischief had its season, and most folks knew the difference between harmless foolishness and real harm. |
That difference mattered. A boy did not get to do whatever crossed his mind. There were lines. You did not break old Mrs. Kelly's flowerpots. You did not torment the widower on Pine Street. You did not light anything you could not put out with your shoe. If you stepped over the line, consequences came fast and from somebody close enough to know your last name. A store owner marched you home by the elbow. A neighbor called your mother before you reached your porch. A police officer, if it came to that, might put you in the back seat, drive you home in silence, and let the real sentence begin when your father opened the door. |
The old wisdom was simple: a little mischief needed correction, not indifference and not a lifelong label. |
That older arrangement was not leniency in the modern sense. It could be stern. Many a backside learned the lesson before bedtime. Windows got paid for. Leaves got re-raked. Apologies were delivered face to face, hat in hand if your house had any hats left. |
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