Coming of Age Rites

In the past, cultures all over the world had special things that boys did to become men ; killing their first lion or bear, depending on the continent, going on vision quests, etc. I think the cultural equivalent for American techno-nerd boys is waiting in line for more than 24 hours for the newest game sytems to come out. Pictured is my son, Raymond (second from right on bottom) with friends at about 1 am or so on the 30th hour of their quest to be the first in America to own the prize. When Raymond first mentioned the idea,I protested that my child was not going to be one of those idiots planted outside of Walmart for a toy. As time went on, however I realized that this wasn't really about getting a toy or being first, it was a cultural event, a statement about your identity. These were not your average teenage boys. These were boys that had read Lord of the Rings more than once, that had plans of exactly what games they would play while in line, and talked of the glory of sleeping on the sidewalk in the freezing cold. These kids were wierd, and my son was one of them. I had never seen him so excited or pumped up. No indian brave or swahili warrior could have been any more elated than Raymond was the following morning, not just about getting a cool game system but about the experience itself. He told me that it was something he would recount to his grandchildren, that he would always keep the box to show them and tell the story of the 30 hours that he and his friends waited to get the newest and most inovative video game system ever made. He told me how they would look at it like it was an arrowhead or something. I'll never forget how excited he was .The times, they are a changin' and at least this didn't involve killing anything but some time.