Innocence on the wane.

Recently, I had one of those pop-up surveys appear online. It wished to know what I thought about public breast-feeding. Is that debate heating up once again? Every now and then one of those women's' rights groups get in a tizzy about nonsense stuff.

Regarding the public breast feeding issue, today's modern Millies' argue that breast-feeding is a natural life sustaining and bonding activity. Look, if I'm buzzing down Interstate -72 headed East and suddenly I have the natural biological 'life sustaing' need to relieve myself and pull off the highway near the Mechanicsburg exit, unzip my trousers and wee wee, I'm risking indecent exposure arrest.

I recall sitting in a doctor's office (1951) with my mother. I was 12-years old and aware of the 'he & she' plumbing differences and how and why things where between the sexes. I'm sure that I was experiencing natural curiosities. I'll be Dadgummit if some nice looking lady holding a baby whipped out a boob and began breast-feeding the infant right there in the overcrowded waiting room. At that moment, I had no thoughts of infant nutritional needs or mother-child bonding. I thought, holy cow that's bigger than any boob I've seen in the National Geographic Magazines at Lansdowne Junior High and that one is 'real.' I said that I was twelve! I glanced out of the corner of my eye and noticed that my Mother Lucille saw what I saw. She said nothing but her nostrils flared speaking volumes. When we were called into the Doctor's examining room, my mother ripped into to that guy and read him the riot act. Next time I visited that office, I noticed a sign in the waiting room, which directed young mothers to a secluded breast feeding area.

The breast-feeding debate survey numbers indicated a 50/50 vote split. My mother's generation is gone. I'll bet today's 12-year old boys would not know that there is a National Geographic magazine. In fact, teen boys today see so much 'skin' on television and in the movies those young boys no longer have burlesque joints in which to sneak a peak.