During a Skype Call the day after we returned from our recent visit to DC, we heard our son, in an aside to his eldest daughter, say; "Don't Pour Nuts on your Toes!" The interchange made me laugh and I just had to stop and write the comment down on a handy little post it note.
Aah, Parenting! Unless you are the primary babysitter, the joy of being a grandparent is that all you have to do is have fun with and love the little ones. You don't have to worry about the small things like the children pouring nuts on their toes.
Please don't be mad at me for sharing this bit. It was pretty funny and I'm just writing this so that you can laugh at it too. It's always good to laugh at the ridiculous. And the truth is, if you look for it, there is a lot of ridiculous in life. Especially when we are most serious,
Children have big imaginations because they still believe that anything is possible. They are new to this world, and they come here from the place where beings know that anything really is possible. This knowledge is lost for most of us as we grow into adults.
Though we may have been here before, and we come into our lives with some inner knowledge of the Truth, children (like we adults) often misconstrue and misunderstand the words we hear and the things we see. I believe that much of this is the result of our active imaginations.
Who hasn't marveled at the enthusiastic manner our little ones go about learning about their world. Children are naturally curious and are naturally eager learners. That is, if their curiosity is encouraged.
Imagination is doubtlessly a wonderful ability and is probably one major human ability that has been responsible for our evolution. Our children have inventive minds, and watching them using their big imaginations at play is a delightful experience.
Yet the child's truly joyful imagination is something that seems to dissipate as we grow and try to fit into the adult world that expects conformity. But our imagination is not something we actually lose. it is always at work even when we don't realize it. The problem arises when we adults, like children, don't always get things right. We imagine demons when there aren't any. We imagine enemies even when they don't exist. We imagine horrifying future events and can let our fears control us.
Our human minds are always trying to make sense of what we see and what we hear. This is a basic survival instinct. The ability to make connections has helped our species survive; yet it can also be a cause for fear and pain. Especially when we don't have all the facts. Our misconceptions can easily take form and solidify in misunderstanding and fear.
The child is not sure what is real and what is not. I guess we adults often have the same problem. But most adults know that bad dreams are not real. Everything is real to small children. Bad dreams frighten them. I guess they frighten us too, but not quite as much.
Our little granddaughter has been having some bad dreams. When her parents were trying to comfort her, they must have used the word "nightmare". She is little and misunderstood the word, translating it in her mind to "the night mirror". She had personalized the concept, gave it form and personality and made it real.
And yes, mirrors can be very scary. In fact, as a child, I was afraid of mirrors. I worried about what was behind them, and about scary monsters that lived in them. I'm not sure what that was all about, but the story about little Isabella's fear felt familiar to me and awakened that old memory. As an adult, I know that nothing but walls are usually behind the mirrors in our homes, and that scary monsters don't actually live inside them, but sometimes they still give me an eerie feeling.
I'm working on story to calm Isabella's fears. And, now that I'm talking about it, probably to calm mine as well. Ah, that darn Inner Child. No matter how old we might get, the Inner Child remains alive and well, and still kicking within us.
Not that it really will change anything, but it has been announced that Osama bin Laden has been killed. His death will not bring those who died as a result of the terrorist attacks on 9-11 back, nor will it end the dangers that still exist in the world, but almost ten years after that terrible day, the man who planned and directed the attack is dead.
On the TV, we see young people in the streets celebrating and chanting; "USA. USA." They are making gestures as if to say "We're number 1!" Personally, I hate this cheer. It sounds to me like the cheers we might hear at a football game. And it offends my senses to compare war in any way to a sporting match. War and the fight against terror is not a game. It is sad business.
Satisfying as it might be, revenge does not make me feel happy. What would make me happy would be to see peace erupting around the world. Maybe that will come in my lifetime, but I suspect that it will take a very long time before the day I believe will come, does.
Here is LA, we can hear the police helicopters circling overhead. No doubt our first responders have been put on alert. It is both disturbing and yet comforting to hear the evidence of our government's efforts to protect us.
Pete and I listened the President make the announcement tonight. His words were brief and to the point. I support and admire our President, and thought his speech tonight was good, however one sentence of the speech gave me pause.
Toward the end of the speech, the President said; "And tonight, let us think back to the sense of unity that prevailed on 9/11. I know that it has, at times, frayed. Yet today's achievement is a testament to the greatness of our country and the determination of the American people."
In my view, the achievement today is not evidence of our greatness. It is evidence of our military power and our determination. But dominance in war and and in military disputes is not what makes America great.
What makes America great is what has inspired us since our country's inception. It is the promise that was written into our Declaration of Independence. We declared; "We hold that these truths are self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."
It is this promise that inspired people around the world and still does now. It is this promise and this ideal that has made America great.