Here's what I was doing at age 17. Not being coddled.

Dateline: high school. I was 17, Darren 15. Together we set off on our bicycles from north of the twin cities to the Canadian border town of Ely, MN. Camping along the way. That stretch took 5 days. Then west 250 miles in a brutal headwind for 2 days to Walker MN. Then south 50 miles to Crosslake, MN where we caught a ride home w/my pops from his cabin on the lake. We wore cutoff jeans or nylon running shorts, regular tennis shoes, and heavy Bell helmets.

No cell phones, obviously. Not much cash. Gawdawful cycling clothes. I recall he hit the deck day 1 in Elk River on a highway shoulder when he drifted into me. He banged his head but helmet worked. 2nd day it poured, we setup a tent somewhere after a muddy road in the rain. Ate dinty moore beef stew out of the can. Jelly?

In the upper right are 2 blokes from San Francisco we met randomly on the road near Lake Superior. They took a train to Minneapolis & biked back. The round guy said he needed to lose weight. At the campground he invited me into his tent 'to smoke thai stick.' I declined. To this day I smh how fucking weird that was. I was 17. 

Anyhoots, the point is: I was 17, he was 15. Just us, on open roads, camping along the way. No cell phones of course, those were decades away. Me being a big brother volunteer, matched up with my 3rd little rn, all teens, it's incomprehensible they would have done something similar. Not that they couldn't (actually none are athletic) but that they would be allowed to. Would that even be legal today? Would parents get visit from gendarme? CPS? 

I have a handful of nieces, nephews, friends & cousin's kids via extended family. Ergo, I have an occasional view into their lives. Sometimes I chat with the parents about them to test my hypothesis that 'these kids today' are pampered & sheltered beyond repair. I'm sure I sound like a cranky old man but the thing is: I'm spot on, and you know it. In an environment where 'every kids get a trophy' I just smh. Gak. My current little goes to a charter high school where assignments are due 'when I finish them.' There are minimal tests. A's are handed out freely. There's no way he's an A student, because I give him my own pop quizzes, part of my charm. Example: simple math stuff (he's baffled) or which countries comprise the UK (he picked New Zealand).

Pretty sure the world doesn't work on deadlines 'when I'm ready.' Quite sure. Speaking of biking: how many teens do you see biking? I see them here & there but mostly they're being driven. Everywhere. Soccer practice. Band practice. To their friends. From their friends. Who knows where, but they're being chauffeured. To & fro, being driven. Look at traffic, kids are in the cars, always. What the actual freak. I biked literally everywhere as a teen, including 2 miles from the Canadian border, as outlined earlier. 

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Parting comment, written not by me. Here's a woman who thought for themselves as a teen & don't regret a thing.