Boys should be Boys...

This (flash) is so perfect.  It is a must listen (mp3).

A big problem today, in my opinion, is the lack of 'shop' classes.  When I was in Junior High I took Wood Shop, where we built a stool.  I took Metal Shop, where I learned to weld, both oxyacetylene and arc. I could lay down a great 'bead.'  Can you?  I even used a lathe to make a small brass cannon.   In Junior High!  I also took 'Home-Ec.'  I learned to cook, well, sort-of.  I learned to sew.  I made the worst t-shirt you have ever seen.

I never took auto in high school, but I did take 3-years of electronics.  Three full years!  I also took 3 years of typing.  Computers were cool and you had to type.  Remember the Commodore PET?  It was cool.  Black and white monitor, well, really just a small B & W TV.  No hard-drive and 5 1/2 inch floppies.  

My friends and I also played.  I don't mean video games, I mean really played.  Interacted.  Riding bikes.  Flying kits.  Rock throwing contests.  Climbing trees.  Making stuff up.  Chasing lizards on 'lizzy-mountain' (our name for some rocks down a dirt road in our area).  We played in the woods.  Built things.  Broke things.  Fought.  Made-up.  Had fun.  Do boys do that anymore?  They should, it was great.  Sometimes we even let my little brother play (He will tell you that all I did was beat him up.  Heh.  Right Bro?).

I had a Wrist-Rocket.  I had a BB gun.  I even shot my dad's 22.  I learned safety.  I had fun.

My dad taught me useful skills.  I learned how to build a flagstone patio, use a chain-saw, drive, change a tire and the oil, repair dry-wall and even built a room out of a porch.  There was more, but you get the idea.

When I was 12, I got a motorcycle.  A Honda Trail 70.  I put more than 2000 miles on it in the first summer, in our backyard and around the neighborhood.  I crashed.  I was actually hurt a couple times.  It was great.

I needed money for gas.  I got that money by painting the entire exterior of our house.  We had a big house!  I learned how to paint.  It was great.

I had to cut down the weeds that grew on the leach field in our backyard, with a weed-eater, in summer.  I hated it, but I learned.  I was doing the stuff my dad did when he was a boy, I was proud to know that.  I needed to know that.  It was the way a boy became a man.  We need that back.  I miss it.  

Boys need to be boys...

Update:  Most of my readers are men that were boys and are close to my age.  Tell us your stories in the comments or link to your post on the subject, it is important.  We need our boys to be boys and become good men.