BellaOnline Forums News and Politics Crime Crimes when you were a kid

When you were growing up - did you worry about being kidnapped, abused or anything else?

I grew up in a small rural town in northern NY, and ran the roads with friends or by myself, on foot or by bicycle. I had to tell my mother where I was going, and if I went somewhere else, I had to call and let her know. It was a pain, but now as an adult - I understand!

This was a tourist town and people would stop their cars and ask us for directions. We would almost lean into their windows to tell them how to get somewhere. Now? No way!

We had the usual talks about not getting into people's cars (now they come out and grab you), etc. Back in the 1970's, I don't think we weren't really worried.

I grew up in the 50s, it was really different from today. I am still in the same city and to think back how laid back things were back then, drive in movies, were awesome. and when guys got in a fight they fought with their fists, one on one! being a teen ager and having a beer was a big deal.
now they fight with knifes, and guns,
beer is no longer a big deal its coke,heroin,and meth.
I'm now no longer feel safe in the city i grew up in. how times change

In my mind, crimes back then included chewing gum in school, wearing patent leather shoes rather than sensible ones, sneaking beer in the woods, fist fights in the school hallway (with a ring of kids around that watched and cheered), and a few tokes on a doobie. But that may be because that's all we really WANT to remember.

Of course, there WAS heroin addiction in the cities, and gang warfare with brass knuckles, chains and occasionally, guns. Look at the drama in Lady Sings the Blues or West Side Story, and Capote (about Capote's research into a small town murder in Kansas).

There was Jack the Ripper and Bonnie and Clyde and the Charles Manson murders. In Italy, people worried about gypsies stealing their children. Small town America was smaller, and more people were related - thus, everyone knew everyone. It's still the same in pocket neighborhoods in the big cities. With good roads, more gas stations, and accessible transportation, it gives us more freedom, but also lays us more vulnerable to anyone who wants to pass through a town - good and bad. The news wasn't as easily disseminated globally back then, as it is now.

So is it worse, or are we just more aware?

I'M just talking about "my life" as growing up and my surroundings. Of course all that was around. take the 20s that was a pretty wild time in crime. crime always was and always will be. but for my time of growing up, it was like i said. the question i believe was crimes when i (you) were a kid, in my little world. in my city. not world wide.;o)

Well - hmmm......I have to say that the one crime I remember from my early childhood was a biggie....the Rosenburg (or Rosenberg) spy arrests/trial/conviction & execution. I only recall this because there was such media hype over it at the time that it was even got headlines in our weekly local newspaper, an honor usually reserved for someone who found a potato that resembled Ike.

We played all over the neighborhood, which included farms and fields and I don't recall ever feeling unsafe or threatened in any way.....well, except by evil Commie spies. The danger of evil Commie spies was pounded into our heads in grade school - like they lurked on every corner in small town rural America. I think the first time I was really aware that there were dangerous people in the world was in 1953 (give or take a year) when the 2 girls in the Chicago area, I wrote about this in a prior post) were found murdered.

I think there was as much danger in the world but that people either took it in stride or didn't know about it. Kids who were kidnapped were strangers in a far away place who didn't show up in your local paper. Now the entire world knows about every single kidnapping immediately and we see their photos, the family, everything. So it becomes much more real.

If you want to think about crime, how about in the 1600s when people couldn't leave their homes for fear of being slain, and never traveled at night Never mind the wolves and coyotes and such

Yes, as a child, I guess I didn't worry about being kidnapped, or about abuse or drugs. I, too,lived in a small semi-rural community that changed rapidly over the years. My grandmother, who lived in the city, was always warning me about being careful - not approaching anyone in a car asking for directions, and the like. And although we lived in "the sticks", my mother insisted that the doors be locked, always! As a teen, I was pretty naive, and can remember arguing with her about how much she worried.

When I started college, I can recall being annoyed that my parents protected me so much from the "weird element of society." I think I met every kind of weirdo imaginable during those years, and learned a great lesson in tolerance. I started college in the suburbs, then moved to a city college. Both were crawling with unusual characters - some were quite threatening - people on drugs, kids who used pencils as weapons, the threat of street crime. I never even saw a roach until I was in college.

I imagine it's a balance to raise adults who can function safely in the real world without them learning that lesson in a too dangerous manner

I think in many ways kids are far safer now than they ever were. Think of all the kids that used to die in bicycling accidents and so on because nobody ever wore safety gear. Heck I used to barrel down ski slopes in wild abandon. Now helmets save those kids. So we're worrying about less and less likely issues, the "remaining problems".