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THE STREET — Throwing snowballs is just in our DNA. There is something about seeing snow where your brain just moves your hands to cup some, form a ball and hurl it at the nearest object.
The hardest thing about being a child during wintertime was going out to recess and being forbidden from having a snowball fight. Truthfully, I think that's torture and schools should reconsider their rules. It's like putting a hungry dog in front of a plate of hot dogs only to tell it he can't eat them. Or handing a tall, cool glass of ice water to someone who is hot and thirsty only to say, "This doesn't belong to anyone, would you hold it? But make sure you don't drink any of it."
Kids have a subconscious need to throw snowballs and telling them they can't seems borderline barbaric. And guess what? It turns out that's always been the case! Or at least, for the last 100-plus years. This video showed up a few days ago and it's been colorized for our viewing pleasure. It shows a group of adults having a snowball fight in the middle of the street. Doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but the video was originally made in 1896.
There is something comforting about the fact that people 124 years ago liked having spontaneous fun and that throwing snowballs is inherent in all of us. I will admit, however, that the reason they probably don't allow snowball fights in school is because of what happened to the poor chap on the bicycle. That guy never stood a chance.
In all seriousness, I love this video. It gives us a little insight into the minds of those who came before us. They were hard-working and didn't have the modern commodities we now take for granted, but they still knew how to have fun. Snowball fights were a blast more than 100 years ago just like they are today.
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