Innocence: scattered thoughts

Child-like Innocence

It’s important to not confuse innocence with stupidity. Innocence is the privilege of a child. In the world we live in today, it’s tedious to trust someone easily, to believe in magic, to ask questions that no adult ever thought of and one that perplexes them to a degree that the only option they are left with is to say, “This is just how it is”. The beauty of instantaneous compliments and raw criticism that is never intended to cause harm is the charm of a baby who is still putting the dots together and making sense of the rules and laws we live by without giving them a second thought.

When did we start taking pride in suspicion? To begin with cautious distrust and carefully assess people and situations to ultimately decide whether our trust, time, and energy is worth it. It’s a shield against malice, one we never should have needed. If we, as a society, were trustworthy, it would be normal to trust, without second thoughts.

Children don’t know consent; they just know love and not in the google definition way. They know love in its purest sense. They will hug you at the first gesture of basic decency. They won’t ask if you like hugs because the understanding of the need for human touch is inherent in them. They don’t say thank you, they run towards you with their little arms open and wrap them around you.

Children are born innocent, not vulnerable. It’s not innocence that makes one vulnerable, but the hatred flourishing on our streets. Innocence is not to be mocked, but preserved, appreciated, and spread wherever possible.

What is innocence though? Like St Augustine about Time, 'If you do not ask me what time is, I know it; if you ask me, I do not know.'

Innocence is a rosy glassed lens of a world crept with thorns. Either we can work towards taking the lens off or strive for building a rosy world.

-Maithili



Perry, B., & Szalavitz, M. (2006). Skin Hunger. In The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog (pp. 81-98). Basic Books.

 

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