This story by Dolores is Rough and Tough! Consider yourself warned – don’t mess with Dolores and her friends ;) If Dolores’ story here reminds you of a ditty that you and your friends came up with as kids, tell us about it here:
https://bestdaysofar.wufoo.com/forms/my-best-day-story/
Dolores Malone
4.16.2015
This story by Dolores is Rough and Tough! Consider yourself warned – don’t mess with Dolores and her friends ;) If Dolores’ story here reminds you of a ditty that you and your friends came up with as kids, tell us about it here: https://bestdaysofar.wufoo.com/forms/my-best-day-story/
Dolores Malone
4.16.2015
A Character Building Ditty from the Past
Many seniors remember some of the childhood ditties that helped mold them into upstanding citizens. For the most part, adults including parents, teachers and ministers taught these ditties. Yet, I learned some of my favorite character-building ones from peers. I recall one such ditty – a counterintuitive one – that still creates waver of joy within me whenever I explore the past.
I was a tween then – a youngster between 10 and 12 – in the 1950’s when a group of five girlfriends about my age sat with me on the front steps of the home where I lived in a poverty-stricken, gang-ridden section of North Philadelphia. As evening neared, we girls were bored, presumably having exhausted every game we knew. But the newest girl in our group taught us not merely a new game, but a bonding ditty of feigned bravado. While chanting this ditty, we six girls linked arms, puffed out our chests, and marched shoulder-to-shoulder up and down the sidewalk on my side of the block, leaving little room for passerbys and scattering like cockroaches whenever someone approached. Loudly, in unison, we chanted:
“We are rough; we are tough.
We are the girls who don’t take no stuff.
If you don’t like us, you can smell our feet.
‘Cuz we are the girls from Berks Street.”
Contrary to what appears to be merely a gang-related chant, the singing of the Rough and Tough Ditty, along with the requisite posturing and boasting, was an exercise in character development. While assuming a sense of false bravado to conquer the fear of gang intimidation – especially intimidation involving coercion to join one of the two rival girl gangs in the neighborhood, I learned the importance of courage, loyalty, cooperation and friendship. Saliently, thanks to my experience then, I also learned the value of making the right choices of choosing to chant and bond with gang-free friends rather than actually join a gang, a gang of thugs.
That’s all Folks!!! …Until next time.
Many seniors remember some of the childhood ditties that helped mold them into upstanding citizens. For the most part, adults including parents, teachers and ministers taught these ditties. Yet, I learned some of my favorite character-building ones from peers. I recall one such ditty – a counterintuitive one – that still creates waver of joy within me whenever I explore the past.
I was a tween then – a youngster between 10 and 12 – in the 1950’s when a group of five girlfriends about my age sat with me on the front steps of the home where I lived in a poverty-stricken, gang-ridden section of North Philadelphia. As evening neared, we girls were bored, presumably having exhausted every game we knew. But the newest girl in our group taught us not merely a new game, but a bonding ditty of feigned bravado. While chanting this ditty, we six girls linked arms, puffed out our chests, and marched shoulder-to-shoulder up and down the sidewalk on my side of the block, leaving little room for passerbys and scattering like cockroaches whenever someone approached. Loudly, in unison, we chanted:
“We are rough; we are tough.
We are the girls who don’t take no stuff.
If you don’t like us, you can smell our feet.
‘Cuz we are the girls from Berks Street.”
Contrary to what appears to be merely a gang-related chant, the singing of the Rough and Tough Ditty, along with the requisite posturing and boasting, was an exercise in character development. While assuming a sense of false bravado to conquer the fear of gang intimidation – especially intimidation involving coercion to join one of the two rival girl gangs in the neighborhood, I learned the importance of courage, loyalty, cooperation and friendship. Saliently, thanks to my experience then, I also learned the value of making the right choices of choosing to chant and bond with gang-free friends rather than actually join a gang, a gang of thugs.
That’s all Folks!!! …Until next time.
