45 Gan Itin
A two minute walk from my home, on an elongated shaped square which had been a bit rundown, a beautiful playground appeared: 'Gan Itin'. In the afternoon hours children, parents and grandparents meet to enjoy happy hours and adventures (for the children) and peaceful contentment (for the adults).
When they come close to the playground, the children let go of the hands of the adults and run ahead enthusiastically. But when they reach the first amusement device and see an unfamiliar child, they stop and wait. Curiously they watch the other children and look back to see if their mothers or grandfathers are not too far away. With a little encouragement they climb carefully, still intensely watching the older child as he slides down the slide and they freeze in place as he finishes doing so, dashes by them, climbs up again and overtakes them on his way to slide once again. Finally they get up courage and approach the slide, they slide down – and suddenly wide smiles appear on their faces and they run for another turn, shrieking for joy and calling out to each other. The mothers on the benches easily converse with each other or nurse their babies and only rarely do they become tense when they seem to detect a dangerous move.
When I look at the beautiful play facilities and the happiness of the playing children, I remember another day in the 1950s, the day the Kibbutz put up a park of such facilities for "Children's Day". In those days we hardly knew what a playground was. Our games were simple but very imaginative. Sticks, stones, old screws and pieces of wire were enough for us to play with. But the day that the slides, the ladders, the carousels and other wonders appeared in the Kibbutz, young and old alike – all were overwhelmed by excitement. At first we couldn't believe our eyes as we saw all these wonders but until the allotted hour we were not allowed to go near them. And then, suddenly everyone went wild on merry-go-rounds, swings and see-saws. Even when it grew dark we couldn't tear ourselves away from the new marvel.
When I look at the jubilant children in "Gan Itin" I am reminded of that feeling of wonder on that distant day. What an adventure a merry-go-round is and what happiness is a slide.
