How easily we forget...
What happens to you when you get older? Do we lose something when we reach a certain point in our 'youth?' Cause, I mean when you're young... everything is magic. The birds flying in the sky, butterflies floating on air, rain falling from the sky and sparkling when the sun shines through. Rainbows, wind, leaves turning color, snow falling in those perfect fluffy flakes... all of it is so awesome when you're little, and when asked about such things you woulda sworn it was magic or something like that. The angel's crying or some fairy painting the sky and trees, pieces of clouds breaking off and floating down to earth, God, if you believed in him, taking his paintbrush and streaking it across the sky to make a rainbow. It's all so amazing when you're little.
When you're young, you can make the greatest of games out of the simplest of things. A simple cardboard box becomes a carriage or a car that you play House with, an old climbing tree is turned into this cool space ship that you explore the universe with, or a submarine that you use to discover the wonders beneath the ocean. You weren't "cool" until you had made your own fort, be it a fancy schmancy one built out of plywood and cardboard or just a simple one created out of long grasses or fallen leaves. The ideal play time and area was outside in the late afternoon/evening, running around in the golden afternoon light, playing tag or a game of frisbee or catch with your brothers and parents. You would gladly spend the entire night before your parents shooed you off to bed chasing fireflies or flying your new model airplane outside. Or if you weren't a tomboy like myself, having a tea-party with all your dolls or stuffed animals (and I admit to doing the latter once or twice... The one girly thing I did... :D ) was totally the thing to do to keep you happy and make you more "grown up."
In the winter, you would spend the entire afternoon sledding or making a snowman. Simple piles of snow became the building blocks for underground tunnels and forts, and you would have contests to see who could build the biggest and best. You would always shoot for that perfect snow angel, and keep trying until you were satisfied. Play time is what you lived for... you would never be bored or at a lack for ideas of how to fill your days with as much fun as possible. You would rush through your homework and chores just for that simple reward.
When you're young, every days is a new game just waiting to be discovered. You would make a wish on every falling star and believe with all your heart they would come true. Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny weren't just children's tales, they were real people. You believed in magic and dreams, and nothing anyone said could change your mind.
What happens to that? Your idea of fun changes from playing outside with your brothers and/or sisters, to going to the movies with friends, and it *has* to be your friends, not alone or with family. Those nights chasing fireflies and looking at the stars are replaced by parties or dances or sitting at home bored out of your skull wishing there was something to do. We're not as satisfied with the simple things that were so important to us as children anymore. Instead of making something great out of nothing, you're left seeing only nothing in those somethings. I don't know how much sense that makes, but... it's like we stop believing in the power of our own imagination. The magic we used to see in everything dies... and I can't help but wonder if something also dies in us.
They say it's a loss of innocents, a loss of belief in little things that does it. If that's true, well... I really can't say. But I do know that we lose *something,* be it innocents or belief in the impossible. And there are many times I wish we could go back to seeing the world through the eyes of a child; seeing the beauty in everything and not noticing the differences in opinion or culture or physical appearance. But I don't think we can anymore. The magic is too far forgotten.
When you're young, you can make the greatest of games out of the simplest of things. A simple cardboard box becomes a carriage or a car that you play House with, an old climbing tree is turned into this cool space ship that you explore the universe with, or a submarine that you use to discover the wonders beneath the ocean. You weren't "cool" until you had made your own fort, be it a fancy schmancy one built out of plywood and cardboard or just a simple one created out of long grasses or fallen leaves. The ideal play time and area was outside in the late afternoon/evening, running around in the golden afternoon light, playing tag or a game of frisbee or catch with your brothers and parents. You would gladly spend the entire night before your parents shooed you off to bed chasing fireflies or flying your new model airplane outside. Or if you weren't a tomboy like myself, having a tea-party with all your dolls or stuffed animals (and I admit to doing the latter once or twice... The one girly thing I did... :D ) was totally the thing to do to keep you happy and make you more "grown up."
In the winter, you would spend the entire afternoon sledding or making a snowman. Simple piles of snow became the building blocks for underground tunnels and forts, and you would have contests to see who could build the biggest and best. You would always shoot for that perfect snow angel, and keep trying until you were satisfied. Play time is what you lived for... you would never be bored or at a lack for ideas of how to fill your days with as much fun as possible. You would rush through your homework and chores just for that simple reward.
When you're young, every days is a new game just waiting to be discovered. You would make a wish on every falling star and believe with all your heart they would come true. Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny weren't just children's tales, they were real people. You believed in magic and dreams, and nothing anyone said could change your mind.
What happens to that? Your idea of fun changes from playing outside with your brothers and/or sisters, to going to the movies with friends, and it *has* to be your friends, not alone or with family. Those nights chasing fireflies and looking at the stars are replaced by parties or dances or sitting at home bored out of your skull wishing there was something to do. We're not as satisfied with the simple things that were so important to us as children anymore. Instead of making something great out of nothing, you're left seeing only nothing in those somethings. I don't know how much sense that makes, but... it's like we stop believing in the power of our own imagination. The magic we used to see in everything dies... and I can't help but wonder if something also dies in us.
They say it's a loss of innocents, a loss of belief in little things that does it. If that's true, well... I really can't say. But I do know that we lose *something,* be it innocents or belief in the impossible. And there are many times I wish we could go back to seeing the world through the eyes of a child; seeing the beauty in everything and not noticing the differences in opinion or culture or physical appearance. But I don't think we can anymore. The magic is too far forgotten.