Live Free Or Die
A couple weeks ago I went to the beach with some friends from the central part of the state who have two young boys. We also had a surprise visit from a friend living in Ohio. We made a big day of it, coolers and toys and all. We went to Lynch Park where I have free parking. The beach there is sandy with gravel between the high and low water marks and flanked by rocks on both sides. It would have been fun but the life guards refused to let the boys in the water with swim fins on. Then they chased us off the rocks, "Some kid fell last week." So OK, Taxachusetts is also overwhelmed with Nanny-State assholes drunk with the tiniest measure of power looking to turn their job into their personal feifdom.
Yesterday, I went to Hampton Beach with family. That beach is fun, unless there's an undertow in which case some college kid will come over on a JetSki and tell you not to swim out so far.
The world is not soft and padded around the edges. There are rocks and every asshole knows they're treacherous and slippery especially when there's water on them. Some of us know how to ride the undertow out and back. Fuck, we even think it's fun.
I miss freedom.
Yesterday, I went to Hampton Beach with family. That beach is fun, unless there's an undertow in which case some college kid will come over on a JetSki and tell you not to swim out so far.
The world is not soft and padded around the edges. There are rocks and every asshole knows they're treacherous and slippery especially when there's water on them. Some of us know how to ride the undertow out and back. Fuck, we even think it's fun.
I miss freedom.
posted by Dean ASC at 8:45 AM
6 Comments:
Miss? You think this is new? You're not old enough to think this is new. This is the babyboomers' doing.
You're not old enough to remember the 1970's when kids didn't have to ride with a helmet or car seat. When the WWII vet parents of the boomers still valued individual freedom tempered with simple manners life was pretty free and easy.
The Baby Boomers are in fact responsible for all of this.
It's like a swing and right now it's so far over that it's going to be one hell of a fuckin party when it swings back. I'm just afraid the swingset will break before it goes to the other side.
Freedom for me but not for thee.
Obviously, some safety measures are good ideas. We individuals can also use protection from corporate decisions that main, kill, cause birth defects, whatever, and clearly should be countered when necessary.
But have we gone overboard? Yeah, probably.
But going overboard is dangerous. We should have saftey harnesses and ropes that clip us onto the saftey measures that are in place to protect us from ourselves. Suicide used to be a holy sin which kept it's participants from ever getting into heaven. Now that not as many people pay attention to that type of punishment, our holy govt. has stepped up to fill that void. I'm just glad they don't let me base jump anymore.
I would like to see manditory household cleaning legislation with Chlorox bleach, Bo-Peep ammonia, and Lysol disinfectant named as the only products allowed for useage, as well as Solo "green scrubbies". That would keep us healthier and would give people more jobs for enforcing the cleaning that we would all be required to do in our abodes.
I bet those companies would throw some money at that.
There is a difference between requiring motorcycle helmets and bicycle helmets verses requiring cars be built with seatbelts. Frankly, I'm in favor of neither if the rider really doesn't want to wear them. However, to ban the voluntary use of swim fins at the beach is asinine. The lifeguards at Lynch Park made us take the floats off the kids because it encourages them to swim too far. I'm not sure that's even a real rule but in Massachusetts it's against the law to disobey orders from a safety official and lifeguards vaguely fit that description.
If we wanted to we could have put up a fight but chose to salvage what we could from the day.
I miss eating raw cookie and cake batter. I miss eating food off of the floor (after blowing on it, of course). I miss sharing an ice-cream cone with a strange dog. I miss riding my bike with no helmet or riding on the handlebars of my friend's bike. We used to build bike jumps out of bricks and plywood for crissakes! I miss climbing trees, playing with snakes and playing in the mud. I miss fireworks and being "blood brothers" and doing dangerous shit on a dare.
I LOVE the feeling of the sand falling away beneath my feet when the tide goes out strongly, you know - when you are left with just a spoonfull of sand left under your arches...
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I know a gal who rides her bike without a helmet - can you believe that shit? I'm not afraid of falling off my bike and skinning my knee - I'm afraid of some dimwit driving over my head while on her cell phone and drinking a too-hot McCoffee. Then she'll sue my bleedin' ass for obstructing her path or some such rubbish. She'll call 911 with her blackberry...
There's a fella I know who chose not to drive drunk one night and rode his bike instead - alas! he hit a rock, fell and snapped his spine. He's a quad now and his mom cares for him full time, he's around 26 years old. (At least he tried to do the right thing.)
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