There was a land of children who for the most part loved to play. Now, there were some who did not believe in fun and never participated in the good times, and they were constantly trying to get the other children to be serious and stop going to the playgrounds. The neighborhood in which the children lived was had many playgrounds of all different sorts. There were indoor ones, outdoor ones, playgrounds with modern furnishings and ones with no furnishings at all. There were playgrounds for the white kids, others for the black kids and different ones for whatever group you belonged to. The only trouble was that most of the kids only played in the playground that was meant for them and didn't get to meet many new kids. Also, most of the kids in each playground believed that if you didn't play in their place you just couldn't be having any fun and sometimes they didn't even like it when kids from the other playgrounds came to visit.
Well, one day one of the boys and some of his friends decided that they were tired of the same old games and wanted to do something a little different. They wanted to meet new kids and play games that they had never played before. The trouble was that they had to find a new place to play, a place apart from the playgrounds that already existed since the kids there really didn't want to do things differently. So the group got together and searched for a new place and they found it. It was not much to look at, just a grassy field in the middle of nowhere, but it felt right. There was room to run, to jump, to scream and just be as free as you liked. Everyone loved just being together. Days and nights were full of the sounds of laughter as everyone spent as much time at the new playground as they possibly could.
Soon, news of this group and the fun they were having reached kids in all the regular playgrounds. Some of these kids now wanted to be a part of the fun and left their old friends to make new ones. Others became jealous and talked bad about the playground and the kids who played there. They said it wasn't a REAL playground and children who played there weren't really having as much fun as they said. But that didn't bother those children, they were just having much too good of a time and every day more kids were coming to join them. It didn't matter where the kids came from, all were welcome and made to feel a part of the group. Although this new playground lacked equipment and other things the other playgrounds had, the sheer enthusiasm of everyone made them forget about its deficiencies. Some of the white children who had never even talked to black kids were laughing and singing with each other like bosom buddies.
Like all good things, there were some problems at the new playground, and sometimes some of the kids would wind up going back to their old homes; but for the most part the group kept growing. After a while it became apparent that the group would have to move to another place because of the sheer number of kids trying to play in the same area. The boy who was the one who found the current playground suggested that the new place should be bigger and have a lot of the things the other playgrounds had so that everyone would be able to enjoy themselves even more. Most everyone agreed with this, although some of the kids were a little worried about what these changes would mean to their close-knit group. Well, they found a new field to build the new playground and the kids were all excited about how much more fun they were going to be able to have. Most of them chipped in a part of their allowance in order to help buy the best new equipment. There would be monkey bars, swings, sliding boards, a refreshment stand and much more.
It soon became obvious that with all the new things that were going to be a part of this new place that everyone was going to have to give a little more of their allowance money and even some of their lunch money if they were going to get the playground finished in time for them to enjoy it as kids. Some kids gave most of what they had and even worked harder for more money but it still wasn't enough. And to make matters worse, some of the kids started bickering among themselves because some thought that not everyone was doing everything they could to make the new playground a reality. Some kids even left and went back to their old places to play because they felt so bad. During this time new kids were still coming to be a part of this group although not as many before. The new playground started to take shape and some of the new stuff was put up, but no one could play on it until the whole thing was finished. The kids started to get impatient and complain. It was then decided that the only way to finish was to have every kid go home and break open their piggy banks and bring all the money they had so that the playground could be completed right away.
Well, as you can imagine this caused a lot of grumbling. The kids just couldn't believe that they would have to give up all the money they had been saving for that special occasion just to be able to play. Weren't they having fun before? What happened to just being together? Why did they need all this new stuff anyway? The questions just started pouring in. They just kept getting reminded that it was going to be so much better and that the only way to keep the fun going was to make this move. Reluctantly, most of the kids just gave in emptied their banks of all they had. Those who didn't left the group and went off sadly searching for some other place to play.
The new playground was finally finished, and everyone was overjoyed. What a place! It has everything you could ever want! The funny thing was that something was missing. A lot of the kids who used to be there to play with weren't there to enjoy it, and with all the new stuff to be concerned about they had less time to just enjoy each other. The strangest part of all was that this new playground felt a awful lot like the old playgrounds that they had left in the first place. Disappointment began to settle in. Pretty soon they heard about a new place where the kids were just having fun being together. They had found this grassy field in the middle of nowhere where they could jump, run, scream and be as free as they liked.
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