Old fashioned safety first

Long before stranger danger, lock-key kids and the phrase 'street savvy,' youngsters learned how to be safe. While today's kids have lockdowns to practice for the awful things we've seen happen, back in my day we practiced for when Russia dropped a nuclear bomb on Buffalo. We went under our desks and ducked our heads or sat along the walls in the hallways.

We were taught to walk carefully. "Single file, Indian style, facing traffic all the while" is a refrain from early days of kindergarten. I was quite proud in sixth grade to be one of a few selected to be a crossing guard. When it was our turn (I think we rotated weeks), we wore a dirty white canvas belt and sash combination on which was pinned a badge. We stood on street corners and put out our arms to stop students from crossing until the traffic was clear. As I look back, I think we were positioned at stop signs and street lights, so our role was superfluously symbolic to reinforce what was already in place. 

We went door to door by ourselves to collect for Unicef or sell cookies and alone or in groups to trick or treat. No one was worried about razor blades or Rottweilers or the dark side of 'do you know the muffin man?'

In the bathroom we were taught to carefully pull 4 sheets of toilet paper from the old single sheet dispenser and place them around the toilet seat to be safe from germs. Before bactine, we dabbed Iodine on the most severe cuts and mercurochrome on scrapes. Scouts learned to bandage and ways to assist the injured in order to earn badges. 

Safe sex education was up to the parents. When I was eleven I came home after a bike ride with a friend who had an older sister. I told my mother that my friend had told me that when we turned twelve we would suddenly start to bleed. My mother simply shook her head, a symbol that we were not going to talk about it. The following week she took me to a woman doctor who was a member of our church but whom I had never really met. The doctor murmured, drew pictures on a blackboard and reminded me that my body was a temple of the Holy Spirit. I had no clue what she was talking about. When I went out to the car where my mother was waiting, I got in and shut the door, and she said, "Well, now you know."

In high school we spent two weeks in our physical education class on ways to fight off an attacker. We became quite adapt at dealing with a right handed attacker who grabbed our right lapel. One reason loafers were popular shoes was you could be stylish while having a dime for that emergency phone call. 

I was reminded of all that nostalgia this week when I heard the story on the news of the family with children who experienced an armed break in. I wish today's youngsters could enjoy some of the naive safety as was the norm in my time; however, they need to be aware at a much earlier age of the evils that have always been around but now live more in the light. And, for those close to my age, we know that some of those norms weren't wise or healthy, but many of the above memories make me smile.

Marilyn