The same day I got into the heated fight with three 8th graders, as I walked home after school alone, except with my baseball bat I was jumped on by two other 8th graders who were waiting for me near a wooded lawn on the street and sought to reck revenge for their three friends. These two were the dredges of the 8th grade, both 16 years old and noted for their fighting and stupidity, They were both held back a year in 7th and 8th grades and both quit school in their freshman year of High School. They were dangerous and made sure everyone knew it. I hadn’t been threatened by them yet until that afternoon. They both jumped out onto the street and ran towards me shouting swear words and threats. As they quickly approached me I swung my bat at them striking them in their arms and again in their shoulders. One fell to the ground in pain as the other lundged at me again until I stuck him in the leg with the bat. He buckled under the pain, which broke his leg. I left both of them writhing in the street as I ran all the way home. In the early 1960s every man, woman and child were on their own. Law enforcement was not as high tech as it is today and threats at schools are taken seriously and investigated. In HIgh School kids brought rifles to school in their trucks to go hunting with friends after school during deer season.
It was dangerous times during the sixties and everyone had to stand up for themselves because few would. Learning these valid lessons of self survival allowed me to grow up ready to face the world without fear. At 19 the Spring After I graduated High school I decided to hitch hike 600 miles from Northern Maine to Hartford Connecticut, where my HIgh School Sweetheart was living and working. I have learned all these years by being fearless, and prepared for any and all surprises will allow a person to gain selfconfidense and wisdom and keep out of dangerous places and situations. Hitch Hiking in the late 1960s and early 1970s was a popular method of traveling for many young people without other transportation. Three days after my 19th birthday I asked my father to drop me off on Rte 1 a well known and traffiked route in the state of Maine, where I said goodbye to him. I took my guitar and dufflebag and walked a few hundred feet away from the car and waved at him as he waved back. I got 4 rides that day the last drove me to my girlfriend’s front door and shared a grinder with me on the way. Many people were truly friendly and trusting to Hitch Hikers in those days. All that has changed in the last 50 years. Hitch Hiking is no longer safe travel. I wish to leave all with this advice I have learned by hard lessons taught. Stand Silent, Stand Tall, and Stand Strong.
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