Remember this: Progeny is the hopeful path to a better world
when taught right. Choose or offer the path wisely.
Have you ever asked yourself, Where did my childhood go? How
many positive memories do you have of life before taxes? Do you see a
difference in the lives of children now and before you realized it is time to
sign up for AARP?
Do you look at your child and wonder if the little person will
grow up to be a functioning adult? Did the little human being learn at record
pace to keep up with the growing trend of survival and accomplishments? Do you
guide your child along, teaching the child about the natural world? As a parent,
do you teach your progeny how to co-exist in the world with other things, while being a steward of nature?
To the best of your knowledge, have you taught your progeny to be a human being first?
Good Questions.
Life seems to be one big pressure exerted on you, in succession, once you enter pre-school. Next is the ever growing shadow called adolescence. While the student is in school close to eight hours of the day, as a student, their life is dictated
by school government. Some children leave at the ring of the bell to fall into
a strange pit of depression, isolation, and resentment.
I read an article entitled, "How To Raise A Wild Child", by T.
Edward Nickens, With Phil Bourjaily, Kirk Deeter, Dave Hurteau, and Keith
McCafferty in the June 2015 edition of Field & Stream. Throws shade...
Yes, I drive thirty miles, out of my way, to read copies at a
local library. I am sitting with 13 issues as I write, on this desk.
I am not bashing the authors choice of tact in writing such an
article. I enjoy most of what Field & Stream writes. I thought it was a
good article in terms of learning technical skill of each class of job, as
it functions in the outdoor world.
I felt the article lacked propagating the outdoor person’s mentality on
the individual level when it was applied to experiences.
What goes on inside a person when they are learning the outdoors? There are lots of articles by adults. We should have some by children or some videos. That would be nice.I would do it but no one likes me for the things I say. Ole well.....can't make everyone happy.
You can explain to a person how they should be. This never works
because of free-will in the mind and the kind of person they are deep down
inside. Some people are golden eggs and some people are rotten, if not given
the chance to redeem themselves.
There should always be hope. One must realize this written passage can go for anyone, not just a person centered in or around the outdoors. It is for all.
This fundamental make-up is self-generated through experiences
and consequences, internally in the self or externally in others. It is
important to how a human proceeds in life. The importance of how the human will
treat the self and others in regards to stewardship to the Earth and its
inhabitants. It is the spark that shapes your world-view on a philosophy one
builds over a life-time.
The well-groomed photographed images appeared to suggest a stereotype the parents could choose from to use as a template to morph their child into some ideal. These children wore brand new designer type clothes with efficient technology in hand to do the job. There are probably parents out there that gauge their children and slowly push them into the slot they think best fits them. You will also find this in schools where students are given aptitude tests to determine if that student needs to become a mechanic, secretary, scientist, or doctor. You cannot be everything. You can try. You have to decide on one something at a time.
Field & Stream writers cover the basic personalities:
Hunter, Angler, Woodsman, and Naturalist. Deep in the writing, it is suggested to
buy, buy, and buy. You have got to love sublime marketing.
The children on pages 58 and 59 are better representations of what children look like when hunting and fishing. It still sniffs of adulthood. Of course, children are now placed on the fast tract of adulthood to compete. Gone are the lazy days of play from the 70s and 80s.
Children have to learn to code, work complicated technology, and categorize other people. All the while categorized on a personal level themselves. Children learn to be divided in subsequent groups as hunters, anti-hunters, liberals, conservative, whites, blacks, indigenous, felons, beauty queens, and so on. After this division plagues them, there are the fights over whom they should hate and distrust. On and on it goes.
That is one of our shames, if you want to do some shaming; what we do to each other and innocent kids. Social media at its worst is the epitome of adults being poor role models for the little eyes that watch them.
People guide their children into the negative snarls of what it
is to be human. For what purpose? To protect them? It really is harming
children and the greater good of the Earth.
Going back to the photo of children in the article by Field & Stream. Where are those dirty faces with smiles?
I remember the only photo my parents ever took of me. I went
fishing with my family in this trio of ponds stocked by the neighbor. I was
playing in the water with my pole bored, zipping it back and forth. A trout hit
my line. It pulled me head first into the pond. My father caught me just as I
was about to hit the water’s edge. It was hilarious. My mother caught a bass. I
found that picture and laughed. I can still remember the moment.
Why am I so amiss about this article?
There is another child Field & Stream neglected to write about
or suggest. This is because the trend in some hunting magazines is to promote
family and family values as whole units with parents and children with somewhat
functional lives.
I struggled with a word to call this child. Why should I try to
label such a thing? The Latin phrase Arcane Creatura appeared.
I can only describe the Arcane Creatura. This can be a lonely child, feral
yet socialized but isolated from the interactions of human life, with a limited
ability to form bonds with others. The Creatura looks and acts normal to some
degree. When cast to its own designs will move back into the wild places where
it finds comfort. It will have a strong Animus. There will probably be a
limited bond with the biological parents. The Arcane Creatura will be left
alone to learn about the Natural World, with little supervision. The inner child
will be fragile, strong, willful, destructive, and nurturing through each event the Arcane
Creatura experiences. The Arcane Creatura will grow into a functioning adult.
The mind will stray to the wilderness and the things in it.
Few people ever get close enough to the Arcane Creatura, and
know it well.
You will see children such as this. They will be labeled as
troubled, with no known psychological problem when tested. You’ll know by the
way people say, “That one is off a little bit.” They will learn from every
animal in the woods, the trees will whisper their medicines, water will sing
its charms, and the Arcane Creatura will listen. It will roll in dirt, climb
trees, and roast crayfish over a fire. Mischief will grow ripe within the Arcane Creatura's heart for that is where it finds mirth.
The Arcane Creatura lacks understanding from those quick to categorize. These same people will try to slot the Animus, of such a being, in a way to explain it away for the sake of their comfort.
There will be a limited need of new
technology, clean clothes, or glaring eyes when the Arcane Creatura does not
conform. Socially upright people might consider the Arcane Creatura slightly mad.
The Arcane Creatura has a certain element of mystery, even when
in the presence of another person. It will play, laugh, run away, come back,
and observe you as exotic. You are considered the different one; the one like
all the rest. It will laugh at and with you in good humor. It will have hidden depths most will never know.
The first place you will see the truth of what it is lays in the
eyes.
If you ever meet the Arcane Creatura it will ask, “Did you
forget who you are?”
Written by: Angelia Y Larrimore
