Be Like a child

She cries only when she is hungry or needs her nappies to be changed. My sister was talking about her 6 month old daughter, who was at that time trying to reach her toys hanging from her bed.Looking at her I felt a very protective instinct and I almost leapt out of the sofa to give her the toys but then a thought stopped me. “She should learn to get there herself.” And so I waited and watched her. After repeated attempts she finally managed to grab the doll and pull it towards herself and it went straight to her mouth.I observed her for the whole day and it amazed me as to how much we have to learn from a child. Or rather how prejudiced we become after “growing up”. I realized all of us should unlearn some of the things that has become a part of us and start being a child. There are so many qualities we lose out being an adult that we need to regain them, probably by observing a child.
Here are some of my observationsA child is always curious:
We don’t know so many things in life, but we still assume we know. A child is always curious, he/she has no shame in accepting that he/she doesn’t know certain things and is always inquisitive. The moment we stop being inquisitive, we stop learning.A child likes to explore:
Children are ready to absorb everything they see. They reach out to the animate/inanimate things and try to feel it or should I say experience it. Adults on the other hand are wary of exploring and they will already have an opinion about everything even before trying something or meeting someone new.
A child easily trusts people:
A child is always ready to trust people. Adults on the other hand start with distrusting others. Imagine if everyone starts trusting each other from the beginning then how beautiful and quickly new relationships new friendships could be forged.A child is indefatigable: I realized this after watching my niece trying to reach the toys for a good 20-25 minutes and never once did I saw her grimace in frustration.
If only when can have such perseverance, we wouldn’t have known the word impossible.From an adult perspective, if you ask too many questions and are inquisitive then you are a nerd. If you try to reach out and explore new possibilities and deviate from the accepted standards then you are promptly shunned as a mad man. If you trust people as soon as you meet them you are termed as an emotional fool or immature. If you keep trying and failing before you reach your final destination, you will get free advice like “stop wasting your time, its beyond your capabilities try something else”. If you finally reach the destination, everyone will praise your perseverance but till that life will be insufferable. And then a thought crossed my mind,
How beautiful this world will be, if only the adults can break through the so called defense mechanism or protective shell they have created around themselves, the shell which obstructs them from seeing the true colors of the world, the shell which stops them from laughing their hearts out with the strangers, the shell which forces them to distrust people before trusting them, the shell which keeps the dirt of jealousy, anger and pride inside but keeps love and empathy outside their system.And there is only one way to come out of this shell… “Be Like a Child”

Originally posted on 6/18/08 @ Bahrain