I’ve been thinking lately about that saying from the Bible, ya know, the one that everyone feels is necessary to quote at weddings and other transitionary periods in a person’s life:
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (1 Corinthians 13:110).”
It’s supposed to signify the importance of continued maturity as we reach the necessary hurdles in life. Yet I can’t help but wonder if, in fact, it represents something inherently backwards in Western thought.
I remember how I spoke/understood/thought as a child. And yes, it was significantly different from the way I process information in my adult life. Back then, I spoke without fear. I understood the world I was confronted with from eyes that were relatively unspoiled by prejudices and the politically correct. I thought about things from the midst of infinite promise, untainted by the adult notions of “cynicism” and “despair.” I was irrepressibly strong.
Maybe I just suffer from Peter Pan Syndrome, but sometimes I think the modern obsession with “growing up” in fact prevents our society from making significant progress. I’m not saying you should run home and pull out your TMNT action figures. But just maybe, if we all took a second now and then to remember how we felt back when “snow” was a synonym for “fun” instead of “stress,” we might find an unexpected inner strength, childlike in size, but Herculean in possibilities.
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