GONE ARE THE DAYS

Its the beginning of the summer vacation here in Trinidad & Tobago an I couldn't help but wonder what the kids between ages 12-17 are doing for this two month period, what caused to wonder, you see I was on my way to work and on passing through a particular area I noticed alot of the young people from the neighborhood just sitting there on street corners and to the front of homes as if there was nothing to do.

As I drove I couldn't help but think back to the days of my youth when school was out for the summer vacation, a feeling of nostalgia overwhelmed me and I longed to be on summer vacation like the school kids so I could go do the things that we did back when we were little, but as I reminisced on what was, reality crept back in slowly and brought me to the realization that; Gone are the days.
Gone are the days when children went to the mango fields when off from school, the mango trees are no longer there, they have given way to houses.
Gone are the days when boys and girls went to the cane fields in search of the premium breed sugar canes or as we called it experimental, the cane field lay empty and barren from over planting and harvesting some of the plots are now laid with duplexes and condominiums.
Gone are the days when teenage boys would go to the citrus fields with bags on their backs to harvest oranges, grapefruit and Portugal to sell to make enough money to go see a movie, the citrus field no longer exist, the place where it used to be is now a gated community or a controlled environment.
Gone are those days when we raided the cashew fields and made chow or wines with the cashew fruit and roasted or baked the cashew nuts, even play a game of marbles against one another for the cashew nuts before roasting them, the cashew fields are now filled with Million dollar houses.
The chennette trees, the almond trees the tonkabean trees and the coconut trees are nowhere to be found all taken over by industrial estates.

Therein lies the woes of the activity or inactivity of this country's young ones.
Gone are the days when the guys would come out on evenings and play Small goal soccer/football the void is now filled with football/soccer on the Playstation2/3.
Gone are the days when cricket would be played in the community savanna or roadways, that time is now utilized playing Brian Lara cricket on play station or XBox.
Gone are the days when the boys would play the girls a game of rounders and lose to them just to make them feel good, this time is now spent on the computer visiting social network sites like Facebook and the likes of twitter.
Gone are the days when a good river lime was enjoyed by all, the rivers are now polluted with chemicals and filth.
Gone are the days when races were run in the street every evening now it seems like everyone has a Wii.
Gone are the days when you'd leave your neighborhood and go to another to see what your friend was up too, these neighborhoods are now patrolled by armed gangsters.

Its sad to look back at those days and say they were good days, kids should be able to say these are good days, but who know, my days was good they will probably think the same when they are older and look back at live then to their now and say Gone are those days.
Dexter Harroo