ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

One of the things that I reckon has gone missing over the years is the freedom that our (older) generation had. We were a hardy bunch, not mollycoddled, expected to have common sense, expected to 'get over' things without the need for councillors or psychologists. We had freedom in our dietary choices - either eat it or go without We had behavioural freedom - Do as your told or get a clip around the ear/or a boot up the bum. Our choices were entirely our own and somehow, most of us seemed to make the right ones, grew up with a brain, and are mostly self reliant and law abiding adults ..... but somewhere over the ages these things became watered down. Disciplining children was a no no, self respect and common seems to be a rare commodity these days, there are attitude problems aplenty and I seem to be seeing alot of young ones who think the world owes them a living and everything that relates to climate change is our fault - the older generations fault that is ... despite the fact that the young ones are the techos, the users of energy, the ones who need more and more roads to drive faster cars on.

Maybe too I have just become another whinging old fart who has passed her use by date. So that set me to wondering over the eternal question - Were the good old days really the good old days? Or does memory become selective as it ages?


FOR BETTER - FOR WORSE ... Maureen Clifford © The #ScribblyBarkPoet

I remember the days of my childhood
growing up in a far distant place
where I played in streets dreary and dirty
where bomb sites had created space.
I recall how I was then a loner
and suspect that I still am today;
it was animals then were my comfort
and with animals still I would stay.

We never lived too long in one place;
my Dad was cursed with itchy feet.
So there was fair mileage beneath me -
always the new kid in the street.
My Mum was at home with the littlies
whilst my Dad gave service at sea
it seemed like I led a charmed childhood
with no one to share it but me.

As I age seems my memory recalls now
things that these days just wouldn't be right.
I doubt if my Mum knew where I was
from dawn until dusk's evening light.
I wandered the beaches and meadows
with never a thought in my head
of any harm that might befall me -
I just enjoyed freedom instead.

We didn't have cars then, nor TV
and we never once had a house phone
I barely knew my Aunts or Uncles,
my Grandparents lived far from my home.
My cousins weren't in the equation
we've become friends in our old age
We're no longer in the same country ..
we converse today on Facebook's page.


Today life is so very different,
the freedoms of childhood are gone.
Children are packed up and delivered,
to football, dance class, art and song.
Now Mums are just glorified drivers -
conveyors of children en route
in SUV's, Sedans and Wagons
all loaded with gear in the boot.

Their every hour is documented
with diaries to keep them on track
via smartphones or their laptops,
with never a moment of slack.
They're prodded and poked and then jabbed now,
and some have braces on their teeth.
The clothes worn, tagged with high end labels
but few know the child underneath.

They are not big fans of the outdoors,
for sunlight they're slipped, slapped and slopped.
Easier to play games on the smartphone
or watch videos - on the lounge propped.
So is freedom just a state of mindset?
Are we kidding ourselves we are free?
And what price to we pay. I just wonder
who takes responsibility?

We have to teach our kids resilience
they need to learn the basic skills
to survive the pitfalls and potholes
and manage the dangers and ills.
Life won't always be a smooth journey
of that one can be quite assured
some days just aren't guaranteed happy -
hardship and pain must be endured.

If we reach our old age .. disillusioned,
our lives squandered from following the throng.
Never striving to gain, no directive, no aim.
then who do we blame - who was wrong?
Is it better or worse if life's lived unrehearsed?
Well I doubt it will ever be known -
as for me I sit here and write poems
And guess what - I just do it alone.

2.7.2023

You nailed it there Maureen, loved it, well done!
I certainly can relate to much of what you mention there, and I also wonder sometimes if I am just a grumpy old fart!
One does tend to wonder sometimes if we are all being led down the garden path with all this tech. stuff. I'd hate to see how the youth of today would try and cope if, for some reason, there were suddenly no mobile phones etc.
As you alluded to, common sense ain't so common these days!
Cheers
Ron.

Hi Maureen

I can relate to most of what you have written, with the exception, I grew up in small Aussie country towns, and a farm.
Pretty well free to wander around - mind you it was safer then as well.
I agree in particular on your observation that our generation is now supposed to be responsible for all the world ills.
when in fact we used very little energy in those days and most of us were too poor to do much polluting.
In fact, I agree with pretty much all you have said - and I have also spent a lot of time by myself at times as well.

Cheers Terry

Ah, so very true Maureen. I have actually gone down a similar path with my homework and can see we're on the same page in more ways than one! So I agree with Ron and Terry wholeheartedly in that you have nailed this with so many excellent points - really enjoyed the read!

Thank you all for taking the time to read my ramblings and for your kind comments - I think all of the poems put up so far on this subject are on the same page (well of course they are ) and we are like minded ... must be an age related thing

Well said, Maureen - and yes, we of that "certain age" do share similar memories!