"KIDS WILL BE KIDS"




by Bev Conover

The woman in Lebanon, Pennsylvania did the right thing.  She saw kids 

selling drugs and she called the police.  The police investigated and 

found the culprits to be between the ages of seven and nine years old.  

Only it turns out they weren't selling drugs, they were selling grass.  

As in lawn grass.  You see they were just "playing" drug dealers and 

their props were baggies of dried up St. Augustine, not Acapulco Gold.   


Somehow the image of mere children acting out drug transactions cuts 

to the heart of my sensibilities.  Much the same way I cringe when I 

see a youngster pretending to gun down his little friends with an 

ominous looking uzi submachine gun aka water pistol.  I'm not suggesting 

that every kid who plays with a toy semi-automatic will become a mass 

murderer, or the kids who sell baggies of lawn cuttings will become dope 

dealers.  Some of them will, but that's not the reason to pull the water 

pistols and baggies out from under them.  Children are just that, children.  

They don't have enough information or life experiences to understand the

real-life consequences of selling drugs or aiming guns.  


It occurred to me that if my mother had seen me peddling baggies of 

marijuana, even pretend marijuana, from behind my lemonade stand she probably 

would have gone directly into cardiac arrest.  After her revival, I'm sure 

she would have dismantled the lemonade stand and given me a long lecture on  

the evils of drugs.  Then she would have retired to her bedroom and taken a 

Valium.  Upon my fathers' return home from work, I would have to sit before 

him, listening to another lecture along the same lines, while he mixed himself 

a drink.  


It doesn't take a Rhodes scholar to see the incongruities here.  Perhaps my 

parents did not have enough information or life experience to understand the 

real-life consequences of pills or alcohol.  No, I'm afraid they used their 

"drugs" to escape - to take the hard edge off reality.   


The problem of mind altering substances has and probably always will exist.  

What is so frightening is the scope with which these substances are effecting 

society.  The age of the users is decreasing as the toxicity of the drugs 

increases.  If this trend does not turn around, it will not be long before we 

have three generations of mindless wonders roaming the streets.  


As individuals we need to take stock of ourselves and the world around us.  

What have we done to ourselves that has made us so eager to escape?  Why are 

we so unhappy with our lot in life?  Why are we so threatened by a car wanting 

to change lanes in front of us on the freeway?  More importantly, what can we 

do to appreciate more what we have and stop this incessant feeling that we can't 

let the other guy win?  In short, we need to stop escaping and start enjoying 

what we have. 

Now back to the mini drug dealers in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.  Are they trying to 

escape from reality?  Hardly.  They are simply mirroring life as they see it.  

This is what children do.  It is our responsibility as adults to improve the 

society they mirror, starting with a good look at ourselves.  


As caretakers of the children, we must do a better job.  We cannot just meet 

their physical needs, we must nurture their emotional and intellectual needs 

as well.  Our failure to do this has produced seven and nine year olds who 

don't "play" drug dealers - they are drug dealers. 


Isn't it ironic that this incident took place in a town called Lebanon?