#18
It just occurred to me that every single one of us is lonely at some point or another during the day, and that I'm not the only one who feels this way. I think we often take it for granted that the person sitting next to us in a lecture or tutorial or that stranger we pass by in the street may be feeling what we ourselves are feeling.
Remember Creche, when you used to play with everyone as though they were your best friend? We all spoke a different language back then. Children's lives aren't complicated by insecurities. I'm not saying they're not there - but a child's main objective is to have fun. In playing Touchers or Stingers and Hide n Go Seek, they're basically fulfilling their objective irrespective of who's around them. By this I mean that these are rather inclusive games. Children know how to work together to attain their primary goals.
It's only when we get older that we forget. There are heaps of insecurities because you get less tuck shop money; insecurities because your body's growing and doing some really weird things in awkward places. And that's when we retreat into ourselves and the ego develops. When we start communicating and start contemplating our own experiences in silence - not stopping to consider that the next person may be experiencing the exact same thing.
And so now we grow to fear to speak our minds because we have taught ourselves to internalize our thoughts and queries. We seek knowledge in our spare time instead of perhaps asking the person next to you - who knows, maybe they do know the answer... They certainly look less lost, right?
And so I will smile. I will say hello to new faces where I master the courage to do so, and I will reassure them that I am as frightened of them as they are of me. Then I will ask them to be their friend too. If everyone could just take a spot of time and say "Hello", then perhaps then the world would be a happy place.
Remember Creche, when you used to play with everyone as though they were your best friend? We all spoke a different language back then. Children's lives aren't complicated by insecurities. I'm not saying they're not there - but a child's main objective is to have fun. In playing Touchers or Stingers and Hide n Go Seek, they're basically fulfilling their objective irrespective of who's around them. By this I mean that these are rather inclusive games. Children know how to work together to attain their primary goals.
It's only when we get older that we forget. There are heaps of insecurities because you get less tuck shop money; insecurities because your body's growing and doing some really weird things in awkward places. And that's when we retreat into ourselves and the ego develops. When we start communicating and start contemplating our own experiences in silence - not stopping to consider that the next person may be experiencing the exact same thing.
And so now we grow to fear to speak our minds because we have taught ourselves to internalize our thoughts and queries. We seek knowledge in our spare time instead of perhaps asking the person next to you - who knows, maybe they do know the answer... They certainly look less lost, right?
And so I will smile. I will say hello to new faces where I master the courage to do so, and I will reassure them that I am as frightened of them as they are of me. Then I will ask them to be their friend too. If everyone could just take a spot of time and say "Hello", then perhaps then the world would be a happy place.
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