I am so glad one of you sent this Fred Small song in…even though I’m now typing with tears in my eyes. What a song, what a story, what a lesson. (This is not a video — only audio, so don’t wait for the picture to start moving):
And a good song for us to hum when someone starts talking about stranger danger. – L
24 Comments
The embed doesn’t work. Can you post a link to the video?
It worked through my web browser, just not through Feedly. Thanks.
Heartbreaking.
Are you kidding that you are equating an old irish song about Irish ppl fearing the “black folk” to sex offenders? This is a song about fears raging in Ireland about the “gypsies” living in the forests in the 1920s. How on God’s green earth is this relevant to a sex offender in 2014? Are you suggesting the next time something happens to a child, a sex offender is going to emerge and ask “why didn’t you come to me.” This has nothing to do with stranger danger.
Seriously, Maria? Aboriginals in Ireland?
Maria,
Irrational fears are irrational fears. What don’t you understand about that?
> This is a song about fears raging in Ireland about the “gypsies” living in the forests in the 1920s.
The song is set in Australia, hence the comment at the beginning of the song and the reference to “New South Wales”.
> This has nothing to do with stranger danger.
It has everything to do with “stranger danger” – the girl was taught to fear “others” rather than to realize that most folks are pretty decent, even kind.
@Robert, yes, I meant Australia, but these “folks” in the song should not be likened to sex offenders, some who rape little kids. How is that kind? and how is that a true analogy? I mean really.
@Maria–
They are NOT being likened to rapists (dangerous people). They are being compared to people who are THOUGHT to be dangerous because they are unknown. Like all the strangers out there who are unknown until we meet them. Some are good, some bad but unless you know them, you can’t tell which are which. And MOST people are kind…so to warn children away from ALL strangers is to not give them the opportunity to meet new people who are probably good and will help them if they need it. THAT is the point of the story.
@robert yeah I get that, and in NYC that is the norm, but I don’t like that she mentions “sex offenders.” Children should not interact with sex offenders and I get that some ppl are dubbed offenders for peeing in public, but others in the same class, are actually terrible humans beings who have raped and hurt young children. That’s all i’m saying.
I have loved the Free Range Kids book for years, and try to live by it as it really resonates with the kind of parent of want to be and the kind of kids I want to raise. I wrote on my blog about my experience with the judgement that comes with that – please read if you like! Have a lovely day!
@Maria, where does she say anything about sex offenders? I went back to read it, twice even, not one word about sex offenders.
Anyone still need the link?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MxsxupAxD0
@ifsogirl – the Facebook link from FRK says “Here’s the song to sing when people whisper about that. Or when they tell you not to let your child wait at the bus stop, or walk past the homes of sex offenders.”
@Maria – I think you’re missing the point. Nobody is equating Australian aboriginals and sex offenders, nor suggesting that in a time of need a child should promptly seek out the friendly neighborhood pedophile. Lenore’s comment was specifically about *walking by* a sex offender’s home. That’s not terribly dangerous itself. But the point was about the “anything could happen / stranger danger” mentality.
Maria, you’re not required to read this site. There may be other sites you would enjoy more that are more in line with your personal beliefs.
@beth thanks for the advice, but mind your own business.
@Maria
You made it her business when you posted such a hateful post to a public forum.
Small Fred
Everything Possible
Guinevere And The Fire
My grandmother was born in 1900
On a farm in New South Wales
She wed a dairyman
Who liked to raise a pint of ale
The first child came when she was twenty
Five more babes in seven years
That first daughter was my mother
They called her Guinevere
Little Gwen would play beneath the willow
“Yes the Queen would love some tea”
Helped with chores that never ended
Tried to mind tried to please
Sometimes she heard the music
Wild and strange in the summer night
“They’re dirty people” warned her mother
“Never go near their campfire light”
CHORUS:
“Stay away from the camp of the blackfellas
Little white girls have disappeared
They drink and dance when the moon is red
Better never let ’em see your golden hair”
Came the winter of ’27
So cold the milk froze in the pail
Her mum hung the nappies by the hearth
Her dad in town for a round of ale
A spark leapt from the fire that night
Wrapped her mother in a gown of flame
Flailing dancing in a frenzy
Falling down in voiceless pain
Stillness and the stench of burning
Then so soft ’twas like a ghost
“Fetch the Cunninghams” she whispered
“Bring me aid or I am lost”
The Cunningham house was not two miles away
And they the nearest whites
Past the camp of the Aboriginals
Past the demons of the night
CHORUS
“I will run to save my mother
I must go now I must fly”
Still she heard her mother’s tales
Of the Devil’s drums and the evil eye
Her mother’s breathing ever fainter
Gwen frozen in her fright
Seven hours till dawn she waited
For the safety of the light
Now she runs till her feet are bleeding
To the house upon the hill
Now comes the doctor’s wagon speeding
To her mother cold and still
They laid her down in the Nowra graveyard
From the Bible read a verse
Children sent to aunts and uncles
Some to Melbourne some to Perth
Gwen packed her canvas satchel
Could not hold the salt tears back
Turned to leave her home forever
Faced a woman gnarled and black
“Child our hearts are heavy
Grieving for your loss
We live so close by you
Why did you not come to us?
We hve salves to heal the burning
We hve herbs to stop the pain
We could have helped had we but known
To make your mother whole again”
CHORUS
OMG *chills* So tragic! )-:
Stranger danger and racism, all rolled into one. Still relevant today, unfortunately.
This is why it’s so important to teach your children not to “other” people. My blonde little daughter has been taught to trust people by their actions, not by their color. The nice looking white lady may be luring you to her creepy boyfriend, and the gang banger in saggy pants may just be the guy who sees it and steps in.
everyone is entitled to their opinion. I found it egregious that’s all. If you think my post is hateful, take a look at what ppl are posting on the FB page.
Being less hateful than others.
Is not the same thing as not being hateful.
@Yocheved
I love the use of “other” as a verb..what a great way to put it!
Hey, Maria: My parents were both sex offenders, although they were never caught. So I know whereof I speak, OK?
Walking by the home of a registered sex offender, even one who is on the registry for actually having done harm instead of (as happens) being too drunk to realize he was peeing in public, does nothing to a child.
Nothing.
Nothing at all.
@Jenny Islander – that is terrible. About your parents, I mean. Just terrible.
Sympathy means zero….but I wanted to pass mine on anyway.
Maria is a perfect example of how some people paint the worse possible scenario, from something that’s completely different from what she’s thinking. This is the mentality of society today.
As others have stated clearly already, this song isn’t about equating sex offenders to black people, or even gypsies. This is about the “STRANGER DANGER MENTALITY”. Or even walking by a registered sex offenders house. Your walking by a house.
Do you think walking by a house of a registered sex offender, you will suddenly be snatched up by some long armed monster? And before you answer that, “anything can happen” is not an answer. Because if that’s your belief, you can be snatched from your bed, while you sleep. Will you stop sleeping, and stop sleeping in your room?
Fear is a powerful thing. Makes people see what isn’t there. Messes with their brains, that’s biological and psychological fact. They get paranoid, and it becomes a daily thing. People like that do this to themselves, with no merit, or logical evidence to support such paranoia. Most strangers you have met, and will ever meet have good intentions. There are the rare strangers that you will meet or come across, that are as bad as you fear. But you’d be attacked by a shark sooner than one of those people getting to you or your loved ones.
And remember, when you post online, expect varying opinions. Especially, when you chastise someone or something, about something you interpreted the wrong way. Instead of seeing the bigger picture, and what the picture actually is. If you don’t like being offended, don’t offend. Golden rule. 😉