The Shared Path, or Learning from the '70s

A football, a field, and two groups, each wanting to use them. It was the 1970s, a time when most kids still spent most of their playtime outside. We would gather all the kids from our street, then maybe fill out our numbers with kids from other nearby streets, and head over to the high school to use the fields or courts, depending on the season. One day we sent a runner over to Tupper Street to get Brad - we needed his football and would accept him into our scrimmage to get it. Well, Brad also played for this organized team called the Valley Matadors, and this particular day they showed up wanting both Brad's ball and the field we were already using. A bit of a deadlock ensued. The Matador coach settled things by suggesting we play against each other - it was good for both sides; they got to play a game, rather than another intra-squad practice, and our ragtag team of misfits got to play against the Matadors.

Spring forward, just a few years, to the weekend recently passed. The group is heading down the San Gabriel River Trail from Duarte. When we get to the dam at Whittier Narrows that group pictured in the photo above comes onto the path from the Rio Hondo. Deadlock - in science class we learned that two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time. As in the past, so it was this day. A little competition was suggested - one group is the rabbit and attempts to stay away, the other chases. A win for both (although in this case, it appears that only those three way out front took things seriously). Whoever said there is nothing to learn from the '70s clearly was not paying attention.