Leave it to Beaver Days

Leave it to Beaver Days ©
Gary Shulman, MS. Ed.
November 17, 2022

At 72 years of vintage age
My brains cells are gently embraced
By “Leave it to Beaver” mornings,
Life’s stresses temporarily erased
Didn’t everyone’s dear father
Come to dinner all finely suited up?
And didn’t your sweet loving mother
Never ever, ever interrupt?
Diversity just didn’t exist we thought
But as children we never knew
That diversity was indeed meant to exist,
Benefitting me and you
When younger days in Brooklyn NY
Watching the Beaver and Wally too
Convinced this chubby Brooklyn child,
All’s perfect in the red, white and blue
No conflict, wars nor racial strife
Lord knows Gay folks certainly didn’t exist!
Now that the years have come and gone
I really should have been pissed!
Perhaps if only I’d seen myself
Like every human deserves to be seen
Right there on TV in Beaver-land
To myself I’d have been less mean
When growing up as “different”
You yearn for familiarity
Life’s lessons of who is worthy,
Displayed right there on the glorious TV
Now don’t get me wrong, to this very day
The Cleavers are dear in my heart
Their tree lined streets and pristine lives
Gave my mornings a joyful start
Thank you June, Ward, Wally and Beaver
For still bringing me such delight
I don’t regret sharing my life with you
It always felt just right
But now I share we’ve grown a bit
Role models out there abound
So every young boy and girl in life
Can have their genuine truth be found
New heroes portrayed on screen each day
All shapes, colors, genders galore
Diversity in glorious full display
Each year we get more and more
Of course the fight continues today
Haters try to knock us to our face
Still all in all, it’s nice to know
My Beaver days can still be embraced
But with a grain of salt and a wiser eye
For honest culture should never be erased