Many people think that the threat of running away or the actual act of running away is a child’s way of getting what they want. For example; One day I was near a mother and her little three or four year old son who for some reason was distraught and angry. He said to his mother, “I’m going to run away and I will never come back.” A child not getting ‘their way’ while going through a ‘discovering himself ’ age, will often learn to threaten and even be abusive to a mother. If the mother is sympathetic and tries to console the child by giving in to his wants than he will learn that threats work and she will hear the threat many more times. On the other hand if she ignores the threat and refuses to be intimidated by the child she may never hear it again. Running away is primarily a threat and once in awhile it is a real adventure.
The threat or the very act of running away is not just a modern day phenomenon nor is it limited to childish behavior. Running away has been around for a very long time. The first we read about someone running away was three to four hundred years before Christ. The story was not written by or about a child it was written about, of all people, a prophet of God. His name was Jonah and the story goes like this: Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep. So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not. And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou? And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? For the sea wrought, and was tempestuous. And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them. Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee. So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” Jonah repented of trying to run away from the Lord and went on to complete his assignment. Whether we are running away from the Lord or a parent the end result is seldom positive.
When I was about 13 and just starting in the seventh grade, a couple of friends and I decided that we wanted to go to the big rodeo, the Pendleton Roundup, in Pendleton, Oregon. We had no money, no transportation, and no plan. It was the early September and nights were getting nippy, some might say downright chilly. After school was out one afternoon we, in a very excited and jovial mood, started hitchhiking for Pendleton, Oregon from our little town of Pullman Washington. We were in shirt sleeves, no coats, (coats were for sissies). We knew if we told our parents about our wild idea we wouldn’t be standing beside the road hitchhiking. Before we knew it a large but old and beat up gravel truck stopped and said he was going our way but we would have to ride in the back. We had no idea what we were in for. The dust and dirt still left in the back of that old truck was swirling around us constantly, getting in our eyes, ears and when we got out of the back of that truck, about an hour later, dirt was inside our shirts and especially our shorts. Our hair was stiff from the dirt that now made up the major part of it. We were barely able to see as our eyes too, were full of dirt. If there was anything fortunate about that ride it was the fact that it didn’t last all the way to Pendleton. He was only going as far as Colfax about 17 miles West. We only knew that Pendleton was West, exactly how far, we had no idea. It was actually about 152 miles away from Pullman, we found out later. We did keep getting rides and ended up in Pendleton in the middle of the night. We had no money and no place to sleep.
We found a city park and decided to curl up there. After about a half hour of shaking from the cold, frozen and filthy dirty, we decided to go to the police station and see if they would let us sleep in a cell. We did and they did, that is the only time in my life that I have been in a cell. They of course called our parents and we were told to head home the next day. As I recall we did get to see a glimpse of the parade going down the main street, with horses and marching bands before we were back on the road hitching home. We had been able to wash up and shake the dust off of us and our clothes before we headed for home. We got a few handouts from the police and those who gave us rides.
Hitchhiking was fairly common in those days and we were never fearful of abuse. When I got home that night mother gave me her ‘look,’ The one that told me she was not pleased with me and that I should know better. Dad hadn’t used his strap on me since I was five or six so I wasn’t afraid of that. I can’t remember if Dad even said a word to me. But after listening to my wild story I think everyone in the family figured we got our just deserts.
Some would say that we had run away but in reality we were running to something, not away. Many young people, as we were, who run away or run to something have no idea what they are getting themselves into. Fortunately ‘our day’ was a much friendlier world with fewer things to fear. Our greatest danger was ourselves and our very own ignorance. No plan, no money, no warm clothes, no fear—just a great deal of dumb. That, I’m afraid is the story that describes most all runaways. No plan, no money, no warm clothes, no fear—just a great deal of dumb.