Aah. Child-like innocence. We spend our whole childhoods wishing we could grow up and understand the things that the "grownups" talk about and despite how many people tell us to hang on to our childhoods, we run in the other direction. Wordsworth's poem remembers his childish view of nature. Everything is brighter, clearer, sunnier, and more vivid as a child. We don't know about the evils of the world. We don't know that one day there will be something horrible that comes to try to claim us disguising itself as success. I say this as I believe that money/greed is the root of most evils of the world. It certainly is the cause of every war from the beginning of time. Greed for money, resources, land, people...it doesn't really matter. As long as it's useful and self serving, we want it.
As a child, we don't know that the dog might bite us, we just know that it's pretty and fluffy and we want to pet it. We don't know that it will hurt to fall out of the tree, just that we might be able to see more things up there. It's a challenge. At least, that was my childhood. It resulted in some pretty quickly learned lessons in animal bites and falling out of trees but I believe if you go around scared all the time you don't really live. As a child, the world is your oyster. You set out unafraid. I wish I could be like that again. Innocence may hurt you in the short term as you learn new things but I think a happier life is lived in the midst of it. If we're constantly afraid of failure, when do we learn to try? If we're constantly afraid of falling, when do we learn to fly?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I commented on Camila's post
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. Innocence makes us want to go out and try new things, even if it might result in failure. The thought of failure wouldn't stop us, like it does now. We live our lives now completely terrified of going out and doing something adventuresome or crazy because of the short term consequences. I wish, along with you, that I could go back to the days where I was willing to learn the lesson through the experience.
ReplyDeleteI agree, and this brings back fond memories of my childhood. I wish that we could have some of the wonder and awe of our childhood past, and I think we probably can if we try hard enough. I don't even give nature a chance anymore..
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you Malory. I have been experiencing this very thing recently in life. If you're afraid of failing (or think you will) then, most of the time, you see no point in even trying. However, if the outcome is left out in the open and you know that anything can happen, that makes trying a little easier.
ReplyDeleteAlas, what you said was true, and often we are far to afriad of jumping, for we know that it might hurt, to be able to truly fly. We cannot keep our innocence, in believing the world will be always bright and happy. But does this doesn't mean that we can't keep the wonder that we felt as a child when experiencing new things.
ReplyDelete