When You and I Were Young

I remember standing on top of the bluff looking down into the valley below. Later in life when I was in school they would tell us that the glacier had skidded to a halt just in the area, and that was why to the north the land was much flatter. The glacier had pushed the area up into the land form that rose above the river-- the land that we lived on.

I didn't know that when I was a small child. I only knew how vast the view was as I stood watching as clouds floated over the countryside leaving their shadow to run quickly along trying to catch up . The small town lights would twinkle in the evening--coming on one by one they looked like diamonds to me against a deep black and azure blue background. It seems quaint now to remember 'going to town'. The stores back then had board floors, at least some of them. In one variety store (5 and 10 cent store) the woman would watch us children like a hawk. We weren't aware of the problem of 'shoplifting' at our age, and when we had a nickel to spend we wanted to make sure we bought the right stuff. Consequently we would agonize over our purchase for some time before we bought anything. I'm sure the poor woman must have agonized with us... but not for the same reason.

To a small child it was a peaceful existence. Some of the pictures from that era, and just before, don't give the same appearance. My Grandfather told stories of how some of the fellows would come to town with their pistols strapped on their hips, their boots would clump with spurs jangling away. Just down the road from us was where the infamous Bonnie and Clyde were holed up in passing, as they neared the end of their days...

Time has raced on, the clouds still float effortlessly, and I suppose the shadows still run along trying to catch up. Much of the countryside still looks almost the same, but life in the houses has changed, and although people in general are still the same...we are different.

We are older and not wiser. Even our children are older. Not in years, but...the things they have seen on the television, and in movies, has taken away their youth. They are old people in young people's bodies. Television and movies have--under the guise of 'art reflecting life', robbed all of us of innocence, and in reality that which they portrayed as 'real life' was a lie that has become self-fulfilling.

And as we look around what can we say in our present situation? We are like those spoken of in Matthew 20:30 "And behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, Lord, have mercy on us, thou son of David."

Lord, have mercy on us, thou son of David