Bitter Harvest

8 Pages 2101 Words

Think back to when you were a child and the areas in which you lived, played and socialized. Remember if you will, the “territories” which you and your gang of friends called yours. This territory may have been an alley behind your house, a set of trees on an abandoned lot or even a fort you and your friends built—whatever your territory was, you felt you had the sole rights to it. No other children were going to come into your territory and take it away and if they tried, it was not without a fight.

A group of children across from my house have a fort that they have set up and play in. This fort had been vacant for many years—left to whoever stopped or dropped in. See, at one time, there were a group of children who played there periodically, but they seem to have lost interest and moved away. Well, just a few weeks ago, another group of children came to the fort and started really making it quite the spectacle. Day after day, hour after hour, I saw these children at their fort making improvements. They play that they are farmers, reaping crops from the fields of dry crested grass and they set up shops to help with the harvest of those crops. They barter and trade with one another and seem to have the same set of beliefs. Each child gets off the bus at 3:30 and heads to the fort for a couple hours and at 6:30 each day, these children leave for supper and don’t return until the bus drops them off from school the next day. They seem to have similar lives, beliefs and aspirations for their fort.

A few weeks ago, I witnessed something interesting about the fort across from my house; I noticed a new gang of children hanging out near the fort. Although they were not the same children that I see day after day, they were similar in race and stature. Although they were similar, I can tell there was a difference. The difference seemed to be in their aspirations for the fort and beliefs in how they govern the fort...