Black and White

"How wonderful it would be if we were still children?" That, indeed, has been something that almost all of us have thought or wished for, periodically. Well! Someone has waved a magic wand, somewhere, and childhood has returned to adults.

What is the most attractive about childhood is the simplicity with which we viewed the world. Things were conveniently black and white and one did not need to grapple with the various shades of grey in-between. That simplicity, indeed, is returning to us with a vengeance.

For example, the world is divided into winners and losers, now. There is no need to worry about how to classify people who want to do things that do not make them 'winners' or, even, people who have failed but still persevere - time enough to re-classify them winners when they achieve what we think is worthy of respect. We may not exactly have recovered our childhood sufficiently to clap our hands and chant, "Loser! Loser! Roger is a loser" but we are getting there. Progress is not achieved all at once after all - it takes time.

Using different criteria, the world is divided into 'good guys' and 'bad guys'. There is no real point in achieving childhood if we keep persisting in stupid things like using adult lingo. A 'good guy' is one who agrees with us and a 'bad guy' is one who does not - how much simpler can it get? Of course, there are some guys, who agree only to keep in with you, so some complexity still mars our childhood. We should, as a matter of course, consider as bad guys anybody, who does not dress, eat or look like us. All nonsensical thoughts about why eating fish, say, makes a man a villain, who sacrifice babies on new moon nights, is the stupid adult way of complicating matters unnecessarily.

Remember when you went to the shop near your school to get your favorite candy and found that an imp from the neighboring school had snagged the last piece? Of course, he did it specifically to spite you. It is ludicrous to think that he bought the candy because he wanted it and not because he wanted to deprive you of it. Just think - he comes to the shop just before you came, buys exactly the candy that you wanted to buy and is not even from your school. How could it be merely coincidence that he just happened to buy the last piece of candy that you particularly wanted? Had he been from your own school, maybe, it could be excused. But from another school? 'Bad Guy', of course. So what if it is a job you are talking about and not candy? Adulthood has only deprived you of clarity of thought, if you disagree.

WHAT?? When you talked of reverting to childhood, you meant something else? You meant the fact that, someone being different also stimulated curiosity and, later on, acceptance? That the fact that your long gone ancestor was cheated by his long gone ancestor seems irrelevant to your relationship with him? That a 'bad guy' of the moment can change into a 'good guy' depending on what transpires between you AND not remain frozen in the same status for the rest of your lives?

You should have made that clear. NOW it is too late. Be careful what you wish for in future.