Piggy,
I'll go back past age twenty. And I'm over fifty five.
At age ten, my Daddy (yes it was Daddy) sent me into town to buy a box of .22 long rifles at the General Store.
He gave me a dollar & told me to bring the change back. Well, I didn't. I bought the .22's but spent the change on coconut mackeroons.
After the whup'n I got, it was four days before I could sit comfortably, but it took twenty years for me to eat coconut again.
Yes, firearms were a tool then, but unlike the buck saw or grubing matax, I realy loved Daddy's little .22 & he not only taught me how to use it, but encouraged me to hunt.
There were ten in our family, so cotton tails & fox squirrels were a welcome addition to the meals ( we lived in farm country three miles from a small town )
At age twelve ( about 1949 ) I would take that .22, a box of bullets in my pocket, board the small town bus to the big city, walk from the terminal about five blocks to my uncles work place & wait for him to get off work so we could go squirrel hunt'n the next day.....I'd spend the night at his house & we'd drive thirty miles out of town in the opposite direction from where I lived to hunt.
Now I didn't know what a gun case was, just packed that puppy right out in the open & nobody ever questioned it.
Bought my Win 94 30-30 when I was still in hi school ( same General Store ) only I'm 17 now in 1954.
Had to give a speech in Literature class & the teacher said we could use a prop.
OOOO-K, how about the 94 ? Nooo problem.
Now, try to place this scene in today's world.
Just before speech class, I was excused to retrieve my 30-30 from my 36 Chevy (still no carying case)
Walked up that long side-walk into the school building, into the speach class ( got an "A" ) didn't get expelled, no SWAT teams, no felonys arrests or prison time.
It was a different day in time indeed.
The wost problem we had was chewing gum in class..... a student could get in serious trouble for that.
So, why such a different culture today?
There are many reasons, but to make a long story short, I'll condense the problem to this;
Government ! Specifically taxes !
Todays wage earner can't bring enough of his paycheck home, because of the horrendous taxes he must pay, to support his family therefore necessitating both parents to work.
Now, who parents the children? Traditionaly this has been "Mom's" job.... but wait, If Mom was fortunate enough to land a "Day" job then after nine hours at the sweat shop she can't be emotionaly or physicaly capable of performing an adaquate job at home.
So, we have moral break down, destroyed family values, divorces, battered wives, battered husbands, single parent familys (Lord, who does the parenting in a single parent family while single parent works ? )
Instant gratification, refusal to accept responsibility, religious decay, politicians & government officials lying.....big time.
And on & on, like the slipery slope, we never seem to regain any footing lost.
Apathy?, corruption?, defeatist or can't happen to me attitude ?,
One learns from ones mistakes... right ?
OPEN OR OUT
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Ralph in In.