Losing your Marbles
Who hasn’t heard of, or used the expression “losing your marbles.” Metaphorically speaking, marbles seem to be equivalent to brains or at least wits. Or maybe marbles simply refer to a tenuous state of human sanity held in check by a hand drawn circle in the dirt. Knocked out of the circle, you lose. I got to thinking about this phrase which took me down a path to the game of marbles itself, which seems to have gone the way of hopscotch & jacks along with just about every other outdoor game that healthy young American children used to play before the advent video gaming and the computer vortex. I believe my generation, the baby boomers, were the last to play the “Great American Outdoor Games.” These included obscure fun rituals such as: ringolevio, capture the flag, stoop ball, jumprope and the like. After reflecting momentarily, I realized that I too had not actually been part of the “marble generation.” I missed it. Yes, we had marbles. Catseyes, those cheaply produced machine made glass orbs from Japan which flooded the American market in the 1950’s. But cateyes are to marbles, as cubic zirconium is to diamond. But what did we care? We were too busy flipping Maris & Mantle cards to think about winning a paltry marble or two.