by Jimmy Ettele

Created on: November 29, 2008

As a child I lived on a quiet street block. Woodvale, our street, was a long block interrupted occasionally by intersecting streets. Our section of the block was interrupted by an intersecting street named Philmay Terrace and so myself, my sister, and the rest of the kids on our section were able to have an island unto ourselves. It was an island we defended furiously with our plastic guns, swords, shields, US Army issued(by way of Mattel) grenades and the rootin' tootinest six shooter and ammunition belt the Wild Wild West had ever seen. We challenged the other sections of Woodvale Avenue to games of 'War'. We fought desperadoes in ten gallon black cowboy hats. We stopped the Empire and the Death Star with our Han Solo replica BlasTech DL-44 blasters and Obi Wan's lightsaber. As children, we played, and we played hard and at times what we were playing involved weapons. While we were holding back the oncoming Indian attack against our cattle ranch with our sheriff badges affixed to our vests and popping off our six shooters neither were we aware of the violence going on around us nor did we realize any sort of impact shooting Kevin as he was howling and swinging his rubber tomahawk might have on our psyches.

We should be glad if children want to use toys. Using toys might imply a child's imagination might be stoked up and firing. In our digital world we have forgone with make believe to have someone else think of it for us. Playstations, X-Box's and whatever other gaming outlet has done to our children's imaginations what the Chris Gaines persona did for Garth Brooks. The ones making these games are the same kids who were playing and imagining and being allowed to be a kid. Today we are so fearful our kids might be using a fake ray gun, shooting suction cup arrows, or using anything Nerf makes we would rather have them perched in front of the television set slowly developing hyperopia and carpal tunnel syndrome. Well at least they didn't pretend to shoot anyone? They also gained 30 pounds over the weekend and have a diminished ability to imagine scenario's in their mind. Good thing we took those guns away!

Parents have taken all the fun out of being a kid. Being a kid involves scraped knees and a good dose of stained clothing. Being a kid involves using a magnifying glass to burn things, like ants. Being a kid means staring out a window for a few hours doing nothing but daydreaming and imagining. Being a kid means the routine trip into the fantasies swirling

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