I remember back then when we were social to strangers, treating each other like they were us and we were them. We played Kick Ball in the middle of the pot hole road from the moment the sun arose and till the moment the street lights came on.

I remember back then when it didn’t matter who was their friend and who was your friend as far as everyone knew- we were all friends. If one was to disagree about how the game was played, we never argued or fought about it because that would just be a new game we’d made up. We were young back then, so we had the ability to do those type of things and not make it complicated with words like “how is that when this and that doesn’t make sense because this and that is not fair.” We had our imagination to make it fair.

I remember back then when students loved to sit in those squeaky wobbly chairs, while a well fit passionate woman gave us the gift of knowledge. No one texted in class, threw spitballs, bullied one or another, or talked all day to their peers. We just sat there with the jolliest smiles ever, a pencil tucked under our little fingers, and an arm ready to shoot up every time a question was asked.

I remember back then when children give a peck on the cheek and that’s it. We didn’t have a thought anywhere near sex. We was afraid out of our minds to curse, and what someone else had we didn’t steal, we borrowed.

I remembered back then when we didn’t question any adult’s authority. We said yes ma’am, no ma’am, yes sir, no sir, good mornig, good afternoon, and good night. But I also remember that back then that was the respectable, social, caring, and loving generation. We were once that generation and we are the same kids from that generation. Why have we let our teenage generation depart from the things we remembered back then, and turn it into the things that we do now that we will never remember? I remember back then when we thrived to remember.
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Eternity J