Paradigm shifts (not-quite-anecdotes on growing up)
Isn't it weird how when you're young,
You'd do anything to grow up
To be older---
Little boys want to be firefighters
Little girls want to put on makeup, be mothers
Kindergarteners want to skip elementary school,
Go straight on up to high school
Be cool like big brothers, big sisters
People they're constantly craning their necks to look up to
But little girls and little boys go to their first day of school
They learn their addition and multiplication
They learn their grammar and their science
They learn their geography and their history
And they learn what it's like to make friends
Be friends
Lose friends
(Play, laugh, cry, learn)
Then they graduate and it's off to high school
Minds still fresh, eyes still clean
Suddenly at the bottom of the pack
They lose that innocence as fast as they lose sleep
Over projects, work, friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, work work work
(Until they wonder what the numbers really mean when they arrive in the envelopes)
They lose sight of the joy in the world
Too preoccupied with proving some shred of self-worth
Scholarships and opportunities and all the questions
"What are you going to do with your life?"
If they are responsible
And luck is on their side
If they work hard
They'll get the career of their dreams
Do something they love
And live fulfilling lives
But if something goes awry
If something is amiss
They find themselves wishing they could be young again
The little boy or the little girl
That wanted to become a police officer, a ballerina, a magician...
Little boys and little girls
Always want to be grown up
So they can do things grown ups do
Like sleeping late
And living by themselves
And drinking wine at parties
But once they can
Once they spend their umpteenth all-nighter
Working on a project
An assignment
A contract
Due the next morning
Once they feel the bitter sting of returning to a cold, empty home
With no mother to tuck you in
And no father to scare away the monsters under the bed
Once they feel the scalding burn of alcohol down their throats
They wish they could be little again
So their only worries in the entire world
Would be having fun
Making friends
Not eating cookies before dinner
And dreaming about the day they'll be grown up
You'd do anything to grow up
To be older---
Little boys want to be firefighters
Little girls want to put on makeup, be mothers
Kindergarteners want to skip elementary school,
Go straight on up to high school
Be cool like big brothers, big sisters
People they're constantly craning their necks to look up to
But little girls and little boys go to their first day of school
They learn their addition and multiplication
They learn their grammar and their science
They learn their geography and their history
And they learn what it's like to make friends
Be friends
Lose friends
(Play, laugh, cry, learn)
Then they graduate and it's off to high school
Minds still fresh, eyes still clean
Suddenly at the bottom of the pack
They lose that innocence as fast as they lose sleep
Over projects, work, friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, work work work
(Until they wonder what the numbers really mean when they arrive in the envelopes)
They lose sight of the joy in the world
Too preoccupied with proving some shred of self-worth
Scholarships and opportunities and all the questions
"What are you going to do with your life?"
If they are responsible
And luck is on their side
If they work hard
They'll get the career of their dreams
Do something they love
And live fulfilling lives
But if something goes awry
If something is amiss
They find themselves wishing they could be young again
The little boy or the little girl
That wanted to become a police officer, a ballerina, a magician...
Little boys and little girls
Always want to be grown up
So they can do things grown ups do
Like sleeping late
And living by themselves
And drinking wine at parties
But once they can
Once they spend their umpteenth all-nighter
Working on a project
An assignment
A contract
Due the next morning
Once they feel the bitter sting of returning to a cold, empty home
With no mother to tuck you in
And no father to scare away the monsters under the bed
Once they feel the scalding burn of alcohol down their throats
They wish they could be little again
So their only worries in the entire world
Would be having fun
Making friends
Not eating cookies before dinner
And dreaming about the day they'll be grown up