Free kids

In the past few days, I've seen an amazing and heartening sight on several occasions: Groups of two or three kids hanging out together on their bikes/skateboards or walking. They're not under the watchful eyes of paranoid parents, or boxed into the security of a minivan or SUV. No, they are actually right out there in the elements, unsupervised. Laughing and joking, and looking carefree and happy.

Can you believe it?

It's pretty shocking in these times of terror -- irrational parental terror, that is. How nice to see kids being allowed to be kids, exploring the world on their own terms. Learning by experience in an outdoor setting, not indoors on a video screen. It's too late for some kids-- who were fenced in like workers at the clothing factories in Southeast Asia (for their own protection, of course). But perhaps a few from the next generation will have some direct understanding of the world they live in. Without that, the Earth is really in trouble, not to mention human relations.

I am aware that this post leans toward one end of a spectrum of sentiment. But it's the end that needs more emphasis right now. If you've got kids, please let them out. We don't need more Nature Deficit Disorder.