July 23, 2004
I see the little boy playing in the sandbox. On the beach. All he has is his little pile in front of him and his imagination to run wild. Nothing else in the world to bother him. Just himself to be engrossed. I envy the little boy. It just seems so easy and simple... this life. Ask me to play with some sand. Put me on a deserted beach. These thoughts… “what meetings do I have to go to tomorrow...” “ …What should I wear to dinner…” “…Is my lunch big enough….” These things. Put me there and I will start to think of everything but the sand. I will not be open to the simple life and easy is definitely not the description.
People look at a transition from child to adult as something to strive for. People see this great world that awaits us when we are older. After high school, we spend day in, and day out trying to be adults… in front of our parents, at school, in our careers. We wear the cloths and we talk the talk, and we act the way that we think we should… to the point where we feel like we are finally there. To where though? You lose yourself and your youth. Too much time spent being adults. I figure that if we spend as much time being the way we are in the manufactured world, there has to be some sort of balance. There has to be the youth or some reminisce of your childhood to balance out. This mask can be taken off when you leave work. In youth is the power to have wisdom. It is what balances out the concrete structures and gives us the abstract. The spontaneity. The fun. The unknown.
No more worries about adulthood. The kid inside still wants to play once all the grown ups have left. This little boy is at the beach, and in his hand is the sand to last him a lifetime of play… A castle for his kingdom…