I haven't had any good topics to write about lately, but after taking about a mile walk around the neighborhood (as part of my regimen that my physical therapist said I should move around more), one came to mind - and sure enough, it has to do with the topic of neighborhoods.
Remember those days your parents told you about, with them playing with their friends outside in their neighborhood, goofing around and having a good time on a daily basis? Hell, you may even remember it yourself with your youth, playing kickball or baseball or some activity that actually took place outside and proved that people actually lived in the neighborhood.
Nowadays, you're lucky to see kids outside. Everyone knows the culprits of this - video games, technology that would have seemed unfathomable 60 years ago and will seem ancient in about 5 years, computers, fear of idiots who roam the world, Gary Glitter, and so forth. There's not too many times I drive around in the late afternoon or early evening (whether it be during school months or not) where I have to worry about kids playing outside and getting in the way of my car.
In my short evening walk, it was nice to see people outside and kids being active. It seems to be the exception to the rule these days. I miss the days of my youth going outside all the time and participating in whatever sport we wanted to play at the time. It seems like this may be the generation of kids that will never have that to miss since they never experienced it like past generations did.
I hope my future walks will show me that maybe I've been observing life on the wrong blocks and people go out more often than I realize.
