If you know me at all, you most likely know that I'm generally not very fond of children. But this will not be a rant about screaming children and parents who need to do a better job.
Recently I find myself observing children. It's very interesting. There are lots of quotes about rediscovering the wonder you felt as a child and trying to get back your childhood imagination. I think there's a reason for that. Young children are often allowed much more personal freedom than adults. They can hop around and dance and make silly faces and noises and just be playful. As we get older, we learn that there are acceptable ways to behave in society and those quirky little behaviors mostly get trained out of us. What a shame. I guess I just wish that people were less judgmental, myself included. Wouldn't it be awesome to live in a world where people really could just be free and follow their natural impulses? As long as you're not hurting someone else or encroaching on their right to do the same, I feel like people should be allowed to be as weird as they want without getting glared at or talked about.
This is one of those times where I had something to say and I feel like my words don't quite express the thoughts in my head. But the general point here is that I don't think that there should be so many rules about how people are supposed to behave in society. Do your thing. Let your freak flag fly. Or something like that.
I completely agree that we should be allowed to be more free and less concerned with judgement! great observations.
ReplyDeleteA bit of a late reply here, but thanks for an interesting post, Brittany. I actually remember these moments I had as a kid where I'd be doing something childlike and silly and thinking, "I wonder when I won't be able to act like this anymore." In other words, I was using the vocabulary I had access to at the time to articulate that I knew at some point my impulses and behaviors would have to change in order for me to not seem strange.
ReplyDeletePeople spend far too much time observing and judging the behavior of those around them. I think this is more about the individuals themselves than it is about whether or not what other people do is "acceptable." People judge other people's behavior in order to declare their own "normalcy," to set themselves apart as OK and better-than. (It's why some people are bullies; it's survival of the fittest.)
Rather than wasting time concerning ourselves with judging and being judged, we should all just be, and just live. And in that way, as you've observed, children have it right.
Wow, interesting that you were aware as a child that the freedom of expression you experienced was fleeting.
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