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We were hoodlums.
Spending the evening with some high school graduates from the mid-to late 1970s on Sunday evening, I came to this conclusion. It wasn’t a hard decision.
Sure, we were telling stories. Most of them were exciting things we did, or things we weren’t supposed to do but got by with … most of the time.
We’ll not re-tell those stories. They’re not meant for the public ear; because we were, after all, hoodlums.
We were also privileged.
Thinking about high school seniors these days; if they had acted like us, they most likely wouldn’t be graduating. Some would be in jail.
It was the 70s, and kids experimented.
More than one story was about a Davie County sheriff’s officer or Mocksville police officer. That’s where the privileged comes in. The officers knew our parents, and simply told us to go home. They could have taken us in for booking for this infraction or ther other, but often they didn’t. They’d just sent us on our way. “I’d better not see you out here again tonight.”
Other stories came about house parties, and what we thought at the time were romantic encounters. Others were about running here and there in our vehicles, and sneaking in and out of windows.
Yep, we were hoodlums. But looking around the room, every one of us turned out OK. We grew into somewhat responsible adults. We raised kids and tried to make sure they didn’t act like us when we were their age. We went to work every day, earning our way in this world.
High school kids nowadays live in a different environment. It’s hard to say how many times the phrase “I’m glad we didn’t have cell phones back then” was repeated over and over Sunday evening. You know why. In today’s world, every one of our shenanigans would be recorded for eternity on someone’s cell phone. For our parents to see. For our friends to see. For potential employers to see. Had cell phones been around, life as we knew it wouldn’t have existed.
And while those at this gathering did have cell phones, not one photo or recording of stories that evening was made.
Take note, Class of 2025.
– Mike Barnhardt