Rose City Transit

I came across this illustration the other day. I've decided to commit myself to building a train set for my son-- something I should have done with my daughter a hundred years ago but never did. At any rate, while looking for stuff online I came across this photo of an old bus, a model of which one can purchase to place on a train layout.

This bus is just like one I used to ride except the Rosie was red, not yellow. When I was only 5 or 6 my Mom used to let me ride the bus with my friend Chris, also 5 or 6. The two of us alone. We would get on the Rose City Transit bus, the "Rosie,"sit up front by the driver, and ride from one end of the line to the other and back again. In Portland, Oregon. A city of about 100,000 at that time. A journey of probably a couple of hours or so. Back in that era before car seats, before bike helmets, before seat belts, before baby monitors, before criminal background checks. Back in a time when a kid got scolded or whacked for getting school clothes dirty or torn, not for walking 4 blocks to and from the grocery store with your 8 year old brother, or hopping on a bus at the age of 6 and riding the length of a metropolitan bus route. Risk taking was a part of life. Trashing one's school clothes was another story altogether.

All these years later I am grateful for the many safety devices that have been forged on the unforgiving anvil of sad experience. On the other hand, I have to admire the wisdom of that previous generation: There was the recognition that a parent cannot protect their offspring from cradle to grave, the recognition that independent thought and action come from being placed in situations that required both. I think, too, there was the recognition on the part of the community at large, and on the part of the parents, that a child out on an "adventure" was to be admired, encouraged, and looked after as a part of growing a healthy future.

It's too bad we don't have that kind of social commitment anymore.  It robs our children of a multitude of experiences that make one smarter, stronger, more capable, and provide a wider view of life: like that to be had riding a city bus from one end of the line to the other, sitting up front, watching the citizens of Portland drop their fares in that old Johnson fare box.