"We think boys are rude, unsensitive animals but it is not so in all cases. Each boy has one or two sensitive spots, and if you can find out where they are located you have only to touch them and you can scorch him as with fire." - Mark Twain's Autobiography
I think it is time to rise to the defense of a boy's right to be a boy. It seems to me that the world today is not a boy's world anymore. As a boy growing up in Tennessee, I remember free and unfettered summers. I remember roaming the woods, climbing trees to my heart's content, and doing boy things.
Today the world is much more restricted. Boys have to be kept in sight at all times. Boys must be supervised. School, soccer practice, and swimming lessons are all closely supervised. Pick-up games seem to be a relic of the past. Where is the free time? Where are the lazy days when a boy could just follow his nose?
I mourn the passing of the boy's world. So much of life today including school is not geared to boys. School is much more attuned to a girl than to a boy. Girls perform better in school. The whole pace of school is more feminine than masculine. Educators are becoming concerned. Psychologists are trying desperately to find a cure for what ailes our boys, and our boys are in trouble. Just look at college and university enrollments. Just look at graduate schools. Overall our young women are doing better educationally than our young men. This does not bode well for the future.
We seem to have lost our ability to understand boys. Yesterday, this was illustrated on the Today Show. Co-anchor Savannah Guthrie on Monday interviewed a Boy Scout named Jared from Salt Lake City. Jared survived being lost in the wilderness by building a lean-to and covering himself with dirt at night. Jared's quick thinking and physicality are amazing. He is an example of all that makes a boy great.
As an interviewer, she should have known better. Savannah Guthrie is intelligent. She is a former White House reporter. She has a law degree, but this woman knows absolutely nothing about a boy. She knows nothing about the fragile heart of a boy. At the end of the interview about his ordeal Savannah asked, "Did you cry Jared?"
The Boy Scout said, "Yes." He admitted on national television that he cried. What a horrible question for a twelve-year-old boy! This is the most embarrassing thing you can ask a boy. He will not understand the question. Savannah, your question shamed him. On the other hand, this is a question very suitable for a girl. Girls are all about feelings. A Girl Scout would have understood and responded without trauma. Jared was reminded that he lives in a world not his own. In this restricted world of parents and teachers and coaches, Jared has little room to be a boy.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Traveling in Hannibal
“I have found out there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.” - Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer Abroad
A tour group from West Tennessee had booked the Planters Barn Theater yesterday. They came through the door like a breath of fresh air. They entered the theater smiling, and they left laughing. A very responsive audience, their laughter crackled in the stage lights, and it was clear they enjoyed themselves completely. I would be happy to travel with that group from Brantley Tours any day.
On the other hand, I have encountered a mystery during my time in the Hannibal tourism business. Some people on vacation are miserable. Over the years I have seen those frowning tourists looking for some reason to complain. When I met a couple on Main Street last summer, the husband immediately complained, "This is false advertising. We came here expecting great things, but there's nothing to do." I pulled out a Hannibal brochure and pointed out all the things to do, and I asked, "Did you go to the Convention & Visitors Bureau?" They had not. I asked, "Did you look through the brochures?" They had not. I inquired if they had made any plans before leaving home. They had not. This couple was standing on Main Street in America's Home Town with museums, two caves, a riverboat, the Mark Twain Himself stage show, shopping, numerous restaurants and antiquing opportunities. Sadly, they had absolutely nothing to do.
Unhappy travelers might even turn gold nuggets into dirt clods. This husband and wife were snapping at each other and complaining about everything. Walking away from a dark cloud of unhappiness, I wondered why they left home. Mr. and Mrs. Brown had traveled three hundred miles, had spent money to get here, had invested in lodging, had done lots of right things, but it was all wrong. They hoped to enjoy Missouri, but instead they found themselves in the state of Misery.
Some travelers do it all with style. Last week, a mother with teenagers in tow explained, "We are here for only three days, and I don't know if we will get to do everything. We are having so much fun. This is just great!" The five faces were all smiles. What a difference attitude makes!
Monday to Friday, I meet with tourists at the Mark Twain Museum for a Q&A session with Mark Twain Himself. This is lots of fun for me and the guests who come. I meet visitors from all over the world. One day this week I met a group of about 25 Japanese students. Just this week I have had folks from England, Germany, Australia, India, New Zealand, and Finland.
I walk down Main Street to the museum each afternoon about 2 o'clock. Again, the difference in attitude is striking. Some folks enjoy the experience of running into "Mark Twain". They laugh and take photos and interact. One day a man saw me coming and snapped, "Come on Ethel, let's go over to the other side of the street. He may want money." I was shocked. Here we are in Hannibal, Missouri, Mark Twain's boyhood home, and some do not want to interact with an actor playing Mark Twain. I receive emails saying the meeting was one of the great experiences of their vacation, others cross the street and frown.
Perhaps we should all be reminded from time to time of Helen Keller's observation,
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