Post by annon101 on Feb 3, 2019 12:34:27 GMT 1
In my part of the world it was known as 'Egging'. Stealing - there's no other word for it - eggs from birds' nests to build up a collection, and for the sheer hell of it as a boyish past-time.
In those days now long gone children had little else to do in their spare hours. No 'phones, no money and no expectation that Life was anything else.....
Now it's illegal. Now go play with your 'phones.
I was a particularly good 'Egger' because I studied the nesting habits of birds and I was fearless when it came to climbing trees - I was born with a good power to weight ratio - and my mates would send me up mighty elms, swaying in the wind, to get them an egg of some rook, some kestrel....
It was the practice to put the eggs in your mouth, because you needed your hands to climb down, and while you only wanted one for yourself, you did it for your mates as well....
Until it struck me that something was wrong. I developed a guilty conscience. So I started to shimmy up those trees, and shout down to my mates that the nest was empty, even when it wasn't...
It was 'Egging' that gave me an early sense of what was right, and what was wrong. It taught me to do unto others (the birds) what I would have done unto myself. It showed me who the free-loaders were (my mates) who would happily let me risk life and limb in order to get something for themselves, for nuffin'.....
Today's generation doesn't have those experiences. Today's generation has a different sense of right and wrong than I had. Today's generation doesn't take all its lessons from Nature. Today's generation is not happy, as I was, and am. Somehow I'm at Peace with Something, and I fear for the young.