Please Run Down the Hill Screaming
There seems to be a lot of seriousness on the DC stoop these days, so on a lighter note, I remember the other day when Cowboy was talking about upgrading the playgrounds of the world and suggested we send in any ideas that might help. Well, I came up with one last night while in a semi-meditative state.
This relates to my 8-year-old grandson, who is having problems with anger management. His parents are trying to teach him to contain (that means repress) his anger because it’s not appropriate to have meltdowns. I had a talk with my daughter about it and suggested the possibility of venting his feelings in some way that was not harmful, so it didn’t come back to haunt him later. I quoted a couple of examples, remembering the cultural phenomenon of “Primal Scream” from the 60’s and 70’s and imagining screaming into a pillow or punching one of those plastic clowns that pops back up when you whack it. I used to know a lady who told me one of her greatest joys was to go down to the beach, wade out into the ocean and scream as loud as she could. She kept saying I should try it; it was wonderful.
This led me to go sit in the Everything’s OK Corral for a while and consider the value of screaming. We are taught early on that it is not appropriate to scream, so we usually don’t. I think many of us here in the DC family would love to do a little (or a lot of) spontaneous and unrestrained screaming right about now.
What if it was okay and we could do it full tilt, without retribution? What would happen? Would we feel relief? Would we become more emotionally balanced and stable? What would happen?
My idea is to put up signs in the local parks like the one below. Just make sure it is a not-too-steep hill. We don’t want any skinned knees, bloody noses, bonked heads or other unpleasant consequences. Just flat out running and screaming = JOY in my book. What do you think? Any takers?
I Love you all, screamers and non-screamers alike,
Bobbi