Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Children are such innocently conniving creatures.
They are pure, wide-eyed, yet clear on exactly what they want and will do whatever within their limits, physical and mental, to achieve their targets.
They are possessive, easily provoked to anger or jealousy, given that one knows which buttons to press. They are petulant, selfish at times, things that usually fade with age and more importantly, a firm hand to guide them to see beyond themselves and their own immediate needs.
They are fiercely protective of that which is important to them, even if they do not fully understand how or why. Only that they cannot tolerate it being taken from them, and will unleash all parts of their arsenal, from crying to kicking and screaming, or worse, in order to keep it with them.
They see the world with little complications, youth and inexperience being the perfect blank slate with which to consider a world that is fresh and new to them. Everything is taken in more easily than an adult would have had, because the perfect child is not judgemental, not prejudiced, is curious because he or she knows nothing with which to color their perception. They will not fear a grotesque man, being wary first, yes, but if said person does not threaten or harm them, they will not fear them, for curiosity overrides any other instinct that does not stem from conscious or unconscious prejudice or bias.
They are simply children, young or old, it matters not. Children are as children are, in the heart, mind and soul. Age is not an indicator of maturity, far from it. What matters is the perception. What makes us children is the way we see things. Not our physical experiences and growth. What matters is the mind, so often overlooked.
Somewhere inside all of us is a child. But many of us have forgotten what it means to be a child. Childishness does not equate one's status as a child, it is simply an excess from childhood, but not an indicator of childhood itself.
We have forgotten what it means to be children, simply because we have learnt too many things. Far too difficult it is for us to return to simpler times, where good guys wore white and baddies in black were always defeated by the said good guys. Too many things we know that are not true, too many of us know that the world is not black and white, but in shades of gray.
Yet the child still lives within us, sometimes buried so deep that we think it is no longer there. That spark of innocence, that eager curiosity, the wide-eyed fascination. Are these not part of what being a child is all about? But the world has forgotten. Because society has forgotten, and thus the world and its people forget. Civilisation has erased the true meaning of childhood, placing emphasis on maturity and level-headed experience. Yes, these are important, but what is most important to humanity is still the child, the symbol of the future, and the redeeming quality that resides still in all of us.
Children are not perfect. They are sometimes irrational, sometimes petulant, sometimes a hindrance. Yet we need them as much as we need air. Without children, there is no future, no reason for the present, and then the past will cease to matter.
We, who have forgotten what it means to be a child, have forgotten the way to the future. It began with the Fall of Man in ancient times, and then on through the ages, a creeping, insidious poison that rots away at the foundation of what it means to be human. And we let it, because we cannot remember the meaning of being a child, not anymore.
~Owari
]
They are pure, wide-eyed, yet clear on exactly what they want and will do whatever within their limits, physical and mental, to achieve their targets.
They are possessive, easily provoked to anger or jealousy, given that one knows which buttons to press. They are petulant, selfish at times, things that usually fade with age and more importantly, a firm hand to guide them to see beyond themselves and their own immediate needs.
They are fiercely protective of that which is important to them, even if they do not fully understand how or why. Only that they cannot tolerate it being taken from them, and will unleash all parts of their arsenal, from crying to kicking and screaming, or worse, in order to keep it with them.
They see the world with little complications, youth and inexperience being the perfect blank slate with which to consider a world that is fresh and new to them. Everything is taken in more easily than an adult would have had, because the perfect child is not judgemental, not prejudiced, is curious because he or she knows nothing with which to color their perception. They will not fear a grotesque man, being wary first, yes, but if said person does not threaten or harm them, they will not fear them, for curiosity overrides any other instinct that does not stem from conscious or unconscious prejudice or bias.
They are simply children, young or old, it matters not. Children are as children are, in the heart, mind and soul. Age is not an indicator of maturity, far from it. What matters is the perception. What makes us children is the way we see things. Not our physical experiences and growth. What matters is the mind, so often overlooked.
Somewhere inside all of us is a child. But many of us have forgotten what it means to be a child. Childishness does not equate one's status as a child, it is simply an excess from childhood, but not an indicator of childhood itself.
We have forgotten what it means to be children, simply because we have learnt too many things. Far too difficult it is for us to return to simpler times, where good guys wore white and baddies in black were always defeated by the said good guys. Too many things we know that are not true, too many of us know that the world is not black and white, but in shades of gray.
Yet the child still lives within us, sometimes buried so deep that we think it is no longer there. That spark of innocence, that eager curiosity, the wide-eyed fascination. Are these not part of what being a child is all about? But the world has forgotten. Because society has forgotten, and thus the world and its people forget. Civilisation has erased the true meaning of childhood, placing emphasis on maturity and level-headed experience. Yes, these are important, but what is most important to humanity is still the child, the symbol of the future, and the redeeming quality that resides still in all of us.
Children are not perfect. They are sometimes irrational, sometimes petulant, sometimes a hindrance. Yet we need them as much as we need air. Without children, there is no future, no reason for the present, and then the past will cease to matter.
We, who have forgotten what it means to be a child, have forgotten the way to the future. It began with the Fall of Man in ancient times, and then on through the ages, a creeping, insidious poison that rots away at the foundation of what it means to be human. And we let it, because we cannot remember the meaning of being a child, not anymore.
~Owari
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