I AIN’T telling you nuh lie: I am so glad dat I am not a young person who now have tuh grow up and live in this world as it is today, hear? Look, it ain’t easy out there fuh young people, it rough.
It is a jungle out there.
We grow up in a time when we ain’t had all the lot o’ technology like duh got today nor the lot o’ conveniences, things at ya finger tips and furthermore, a lot o’ we was poor as pee but we were happy, creative and full of imagination. We ain’t had all the lot o’ toys and gadgets like duh got now. We had tuh use our imagination tuh create we own things tuh play wid.
Another thing is this: yes, duh always had unruly boys and girls at school – dah ain’t nothing new. Duh always had children – and not only the ones alone from the poor homes – who wasn’t interested in learning. Some o’ dem ne’er-do-well children used tuh come tuh school and give the teachers blizzits.
A lot o’ dem was duncy as France but at the end of the day duh had duh family who had a li’l dollar bill in duh pocket or who was friends wid people who coulda give dem a li’l pick in duh store when duh left school, duncy or not.
Duh always had children who used tuh curse and fight and get on bad. Well, uh mean what we used tuh call bad in dem days: like when and if a particular student cahn get along wid another one fuh whatever reason they would fight hand tuh hand or would pelt big rocks at one another. Not like today when school children fighting, duh looking tuh maim and disfigure the next student or duh gine home and rounding up a posse tuh come back and brek up the student.
Duh always had exams, and studying does make some students angry and frustrated, cranky and sometimes miserable as France but it was much harder then than it is now. The students used tuh have tuh use duh brains tuh do evah single thing and later in my days at school when a simple calculator come in, ya couldn’t even use one in exams; evathing used tuh be outta ya head. If we didn’t have a particular book ya had tuh make sure ya copy what ya had tuh study from a fellow student before ya left school or, if ya could, borrow the book.
A young girl tell me the other day dat I ain’t understand what they have tuh go through, dat studying and school is stressful fuh dem.
I had tuh ask her if she understand the meaning tuh stress.
I had tuh tell her dat it ain’t nuh different from the way it was, but she just couldn’t see it. I tell her dat dem got it easy, dem could email, message and text – all kinds o’ things at anytime o’ the day or night.
Duh got all the lot o’ technology in the very palm o’ duh hands and at the tip o’ duh fingers. How come it is still stressful tuh dem?
I reminded her dat dem ain’t got tuh go in tuh nuh library. Dem could carry on a conversation wid all kinds o’ people at the same time wid-out leaving home.
I couldn’t see how dat could be suh stressful and she couldn’t see where I was coming from either.
Well, thinking bout it now, I suppose dat some o’ dah stress does come from making sure dat nuhbody doan tief ya iPhone or ya iPad, ya tablet or ya BlackBerry.
I had tuh remind myself then dat when we did going tuh school, we ain’t had the kinda stress the young people got ’cause we didn’t have tuh watch we back nor we backpacks. We used tuh drop we bag wid books and evahthing any and everywhere and go back and find it the same place we left it. Not one soul didn’t use tuh move it.
I gine tell ya the truth doh: I doan care how much technology duh got; I doan care how easy I think it is fuh dem, leh duh keep it, hear? It like it does have dem more stressed out than anything else.
Mavis Beckles was born and raised in The Orleans. She has an opinion on everything.
