When I was a child, all I ever wanted was to grow up as soon as possible, to make my own decisions, not to have to listen to my parents, start my own life. In contrast, now as an adult I miss the innocent times of being a kid, when there wasn't so much to worry about like making a decent salary, being nice to people, planning out schedules, so much responsibility. And I had always put adults on a pedestal when I was a kid, thinking adults were so cool, they had a mystic air about them like they knew something I didn't, which was mainly why I wanted to become an adult as soon as possible! (Also, I had a lot of things working against me as a kid: acne, wearing glasses, considered a nerd, chubbiness, inability to talk to girls, etc., etc.) But it turns out, the adult world is not all that it's cracked up to be! Adults are actually.....pretty disappointing people. It's like that
For example, the big thing that happened was the Iran conflict with the U.S., where the U.S. ordered a drone missile strike on Iran's top general, Soleimani, killing him, and Iran pledged vengeance. Never mind the killing of a man, there's arguments about him needing to be killed for his ruthlessness, but the 170+ people who died when an Iran missile strike accidentally hit a plane traveling to Ukraine is a real tragedy with lots of innocent victims and no clear culprits; just powerful adults playing chess against each other, their own political power plays, and the side effect is a missile slamming into a plane full of innocent people. It's really just incredible to take a step back and go from kids trying to work out a solution between each other, and then what adults can turn into: deadly games. I guess I was shielded from some of the worst parts living in a nice safe bubble, but the number of cases of fraud, assault, DUI's, kidnappings, and outright murder and violence is just incredible, across all demographics of adults. You know which demographic isn't committing all of those things? Kids: it's like we get born with a clean slate and assume everything is clean but then gradually foul it up with garbage, kind of like how humans have polluted what had been a clean Earth.
I realized from writing this that I sound a lot like Greta Thurnberg, 2019's Time of the Year, for her attack on governments and adults around the world for causing global warming, climate change, and endangering the planet. Whatever happened to all those values we were taught as children through stories and social interactions and media, it's like all those lessons were just put in a file cabinet somewhere when we turned 18 or became adults, not to be seen again. It's probably why Greta has so many followers: unlike corporate executives, presidential candidates, government figures, and almost any other adult making speeches and exerting their sphere of influence, we can be pretty sure Greta doesn't have an ulterior motive other than trying to help the planet: she's still got the best thing about children: innocence. Not encumbered by such things as financial interests, greed, social pressures, etc. etc. She still hasn't been corrupted; I can't really watch or listen to any TV shows or read any newspaper articles anymore and wonder "what's their angle on this, what's their incentive, other than what they're saying?"
It's really a shame, too, that children are influenced by adults and older people: they want to look good, speak like adults, act like adults, be accepted into the adult world. It's really kind of heartbreaking when I talked and worked with kids around age 9 or 10 who still have haven't had the world exposed to them, who are still happy and listen to other people because they still think they the whole world has their best interests in mind for them. It really should be the other way around: adults should learn from kids, try to be more like kids and remind themselves of the simple truths they were taught as kids (treat others the way you want to be treated, don't throw sand in the sandbox, etc.). They can still work today! It's like adults get some alcohol in their system with some bad experiences and years under the belt and suddenly just don't care about any of that stuff anymore! Even like financial spending, it's bizarre to me how children know from a young age how to take care of money to save and not spend more than you have (I distinctly remember counting money in 2nd grade math class and knowing how much to spend) but then going into debt, spending willy-nilly as adults and not caring about consequences. Maybe adults are closer to death than kids are, so they throw in the towel and just give up on this life more easily?
Even just some of the social norms for adults, how did we come up with them? I remember when I was a kid, it was just easier to talk to people, I called my friends when I wanted to play? Now there's so many rules and etiquettes and not wanting to be judged and not appearing too desperate, not wanting to offend anyone, it's rather tiring.
As we enter a new year and decade with adults really stretching the limits of what's acceptable (mass shootings, cyberbullying, reckless spending on timeshares comes to mind), it might be useful to take a step back and when teaching a child about how the world works, maybe learn from the child about how the world works: we might learn something, or at least re-learn it.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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