[Jacob-list] Dirt Roads

[sbennett]

1952 - cigarette lighter becomes standard equipment in cars 1965 - seat
 
belt becomes standard equipment in cars
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by: Paul Harvey

What's mainly wrong with society today is that too many Dirt Roads have
been paved. There's not a problem in America today, crime, drugs, 
education, divorce, delinquency that wouldn't be remedied, if we just had 
more Dirt Roads, because Dirt Roads give character.  People that live at 
the end of Dirt Roads learn early on that life is a bumpy ride. That it 
can 
jar you right down to your teeth sometimes, but it's worth it, if at the 
end
is home...a loving spouse, happy children and a dog. 

We wouldn't have near the trouble with our educational system if
our children got their exercise walking a Dirt Road with other children,
from whom they learn how to get along.  There was less crime in our 
streets
before they were paved. Criminals didn't walk two dusty miles to rob or 
rape,
if they knew they'd be welcomed by 5 barking dogs and a double barrel 
shotgun.
And there were no driveby shootings.

Our values were better when our roads were worse! People did not worship 
their cars more than their children, and motorists were more courteous,
they didn't tailgate by riding the bumper, or the guy in front would 
choke 
you with dust & bust your windshield with rocks.  Dirt Roads taught 
patience.
Dirt Roads were environmentally friendly, you didn't hop in your car for 
a quart
of milk - you walked to the barn for your milk.  For your mail, you 
walked to
the mailbox. What if it rained and the Dirt Road got washed out? That was 
the
best part, then you stayed home and had some family time, roasted 
marshmallows 
and popped popcorn and ponyride on Daddy's shoulders and learned how to 
make
prettier quilts than anybody.  At the end of Dirt Roads, you soon learned 
that
bad words tasted like soap.

Most paved roads lead to trouble, Dirt Roads more likely lead to a
fishing creek or a swimming hole. At the end of a Dirt Road, the only 
time we even 
locked our car was in August, because if we didn't some neighbor would 
fill 
it with too much zucchini.  At the end of a Dirt Road, there was always 
extra
Springtime income, from when city dudes would get stuck, you'd have to 
hitch up
a team and pull them out. Usually you got a dollar... always you got a 
new friend... 
at the end of a Dirt Road.