Crossing Guards

Crossing Guards

Growing up in small town America in the 70’s we never locked our doors at night, as a matter of fact I never had a house key as a kid, didn’t need one. If I remember right we had a key hidden at the back door by the rock next to the first bush left side of the door under a potted plant, the only potted plant in that area. Basically if you were a thief looking for the house key my folks all but laid out a map. I think the only time the house was locked was when we left town and the key was for the neighbor to feed the dog.312ac9cf3439eb8d1ba0b92a297c89bd

We didn’t have adult crossing guards, in elementary school the fifth graders were given the task of getting kids across the streets safely. I guess school officials figured 10 year olds were bright enough to know how to shuttle the urchins back and forth at the crossings. It was considered quite the honor to be the crossing guard, to wear the orange vest with the hand held stop sign, it was a big deal.
What a small but meaningful way to understand responsibility, I don’t recall anyone ever getting hit at a crossing and we had some damn
busy roads.

We didn’t havcover_9360912e cops in our schools, there was no need. The teachers and staff were there to handle any problems but we didn’t need law enforcement. High school kids would skip class, smoke in the parking lot and get in fights but it was all handled by the students themselves or the teachers. It was innocent and obnoxious trouble making but we never wished we had a cop around.

We were raised to not be afraid, to be responsible, and have the ability to handle our own problems. We learned that the society we lived in had laws and we were taught to adhere to those laws or face the consequences. There were also the unspoken rules, respect your elders, hold a door open for the ladies, don’t hit girls, and don’t swear in front of Mom.
We lived by the rules, didn’t seem that difficult.

When people don’t abide by the laws of the land and choose to not follow the rules then society breaks down. When a Mohamed shoots up a company Christmas party, or a couple of illegal immigrant adult males rape a 14 year old girl, or a black man attacks a cop after robbing a store, you kinda get the feeling that society has got a problem. But here’s a little secret, Mohamed, Jose, and Deontre’ don’t care about the rules. Each individual was raised a certain way and follows the rules they have learned from childhood to adult, the individuals mentioned above obviously didn’t learn the same lessons as I did growing up.

These are the people that liberals put on a pedestal, the kind of people liberals don’t want banned, the kind of people that liberals want crossing our borders, the kind of people that are the handiwork of our union run public schools, the kind of people who don’t follow our laws because they have their own culture that has it’s own laws.

We used to have wonderful country where for the most part, other than the crazies, people followed societies laws whether written or unspoken. Unfortunately our elected officials have chosen that diversity is the future regardless of the casualties.

We lock our doors now, even when we’re home.

18 thoughts on “Crossing Guards

  1. I learned to lock doors in the late 50’s. 60 years later, sadly, knowing that doesn’t even help. God somehow helped all those who got away with it. I wouldn’t be so kind.

  2. “Unfortunately our elected officials have chosen that diversity is the future regardless of the casualties.”

    When the officials become the casualties, their opinions will change. Then, and only then.

  3. Liberals ruin everything they touch. How they could want to destroy this precious republic and all its liberties is beyond my ability to understand.

    1. They are basically termites, gnawing at the foundations of society.
      Like someone once said, “Any jackass can knock down a barn, but it takes a craftsman to build one”.
      We are all standing on the (tottering) foundations built for us by countless generations preceding us, paid for at incalculable cost in energy and blood.
      And liberals have some sort of death wish that can only be satisfied by destroying the foundations of western prosperity and freedom.
      I cannot fathom this mind set.

  4. I also grew up during the 70’s in small town Iowa and, was damn proud of being selected as a crossing guard. Even had a few throw downs in the school parking lot. Funny, some 40 years later still very good friends with one after trying to re-arrange each others face back in the day.

    Enjoyed your post so much Jeff I lifted it and put it up on my Barley Pop website with links back to you Sir. I hope you do not mind. If so, let me know and I will take it down.

    Thank you and have a great day Sir.

  5. I grew up in a small New Jersey town only 15 miles from Manhattan in the 1950’s. No locked doors at home, walked anywhere even when it was dark. We knew every police officer by name and they were glad to stop and talk to the kids. Not about what might get you in trouble, but about football, basket ball or some other subject. We called them “sir or office”. Matter of fact we called all adults “sir or ma’am”. We had a 4-party telephone line and rarely used it. Us kid’s activities were baseball, football and basket ball. Teachers were respected and on the rare occasion discipline was meted out. You didn’t dare complain to your parents because their “discipline” for causing a school room problem would hurt twice as much as the teacher’s.

  6. I walked to and from school without crossing guards, sadly today there are so many perverts out there that parents are forced to take their children to and from school or have a trusted friend or group help out.

    So much for teaching children to be independent and trustworthy all they are learning is to be handicapped from thinking for themselves.

  7. Just put a sign on the door that reads This door is locked for your protection not mine. It will detour most. The rest are coming in anyway. My home is my castle and I will defend it as so. We have what is known as Castle Doctrine.

  8. In the eighth grade I was named the Captain of the safety patrol. No kid was hit by a car during that year even though most of us had to cross the busiest street in our neighborhood to get home. I still have the certificate I received at the end of that year (1953). And the one time a policeman showed up at my house to tell my parents about some evil deed I did (stealing fruit off a neighbor’s fruit trees), everything was handled in house. I learned that lesson and pretty much stayed on the straight and narrow after that. I would go back to that time in a heartbeat even though we had a two party line and no car. In fact I attribute my good health at 77 to the fact that I walked everywhere until I graduated from college at age 26.

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