"Skateisan" Goes Big

Growing up as a girl in California, the thought of getting physically punished while skateboarding never even crossed my mind. Neither did quiting skating because my family told me to. Talk about prison. Prison created by the dogma of religion and culture.

I may not have fit in, being one of a handful of girl skaters around, back then. Yes, I stuck out, but I felt welcomed. And I never felt threatened because I skated. Yes, I felt like a rebel and a bit of a misfit, but I kind of thrived on being different. Apparently, some things never change.

And I started skating over twenty years ago. Oh, and I'm forty and still skating. So it's hard to imagine a girl of 9 or 10, or any age for that matter, being barred from something as harmless as riding a skateboard.

The video above, is full of hope for girls all over the world. The news video is a New York Times piece on a program in Afghanistan to bring skateboarding to boys and girls of Kabul.

Skateboarding school! Wow. Kids in Afghanistan can play, have fun and forget their troubles, at least, for a little while.

It's interesting to watch skateboarding thrust itself upon a culture that has strict tribal rules, where the needs of the individual are typically overridden by the needs of the village. The rules in skateboarding are: There are no rules.

Skateboarding is not a team sport. It's an individual endeavor. Yes, there is always the aspect of trying to improve and skate better than other skaters, but working together stops at taking turns and getting in line for runs during a skate session.

Perhaps, skateboarding is symbolic of a bigger change within the culture. A transformation that includes greater rights for girls and women, including access to education.

And just as skateboarding has spread to the youth of America, it will spread across the world. To the boys and girls of our tiny global village. Check out the story on "Skateistan" by watching the embedded video above or here's a link to the written story.