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Scaffoldings

I received the Tish Murtha book, “Elswick Kids” a few days ago. In the book is an introduction by Mark Richards, and further along, a picture of several kids climbing up the scaffolding of a building. The scaffolding picture is ebullient. The kids are having a blast; a group of six or so of them are at various stages in their climb up the side of the building having levered boards down in a few places to more easily scale the thing. 

Meanwhile, the book’s introduction laments,

To those of us who lived through this time the images will look strangely familiar - like a mirror of our own existence for we children who were lucky enough to be born free.

and I’ve got to say, in some ways I think kids are still born free, can still play like the kids in this book, but in other ways.. Well, it made me think of our own scaffolding experience a few weeks ago.

Plugging away at my standing desk in front of the Old Fed Reserve, I noticed the kid’s feet were no longer on the ground. She’d launched herself up the scaffolding in front of us. (Just like the kids in the picture I wouldn’t see for a few weeks yet.)

“Umm… get back off of there please.”

Climbing down, the kid said, “Why?”

“Well, mostly ‘cause I’m here. And, since I’m here, I realize I have no idea how well the scaffolding is attached to the building, or whether it’s really setup to handle you climbing.  Also, I could get arrested for you climbing since I’m here, and that’d suck for both of us.”

“Ahhh… That’s stupid, but OK.

That’s the kid’s response to lots of things lately, and frankly, she’s not wrong. If I wasn’t there, and we lived in a  fairly reasonable world, at worst someone would shoo her down, maybe give her a strong talking to, and send her away to—anywhere really—as it wouldn’t really be their problem.

Alas, that’s not the world we live in now, and I suppose that’s the point the intro to the Tish Murtha book was trying to make. But, fundamentally, have kids changed? Apparently not. Given the chance, they still leap right up the scaffolding.


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