Little George

I love being around George – all children really. I keep getting recharged every time I am around kids. Little George brings back memories of my sister and I at play, of Manny and Denise when they were his age. George's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement.

"It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood." - Rachel Carson

If I had one wish left in my life, I would ask that the best gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from sources of our strength.

If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in. George has such an adult in his life - his wonderful mother - Julia. She engages her child, spends a great deal of time with him, and shares his world with him. On her days off she takes him to lakes, museums, parks, playgrounds, beaches, etc. Unfortunately, Nick does not share George's sense of wonder.

I remember my Aunt Helen down at the shore when George would crawl around the house (he was almost a year old). At the time, I thought to myself - here is a child born with a sense of wonder, ready to admire and love what is seen and experienced. Her reaction to George was, "watch now, no, no, don't do that George, no, no, etc." until this extraordinary sense of wonder was reduced to nothing. It struck me as odd - she had a sense of inadequacy. She was so consumed with having a 'clean' house that she missed out on so much joy with regard to her grandchildren. She spent more time with a rag in her hand than interracting with George and Melina. God forbid if Melina left her toys laying around in the living room. I'm not saying, "here kid, here is a can of paint, take it and do what you want with it." I am in no way saying that it's okay for children to destroy their homes. However, a home is meant to be lived in, not something to just admire. A living room is just that - a 'living' room. (Tommy's first wife and his second wife divorced him; Julia left Nick and is in the process of getting a divorce; and, if Lisa had lived, she would have left Nick as well.) Nick will probably take exception to my comment on Lisa, but then again Nick is delusional. He wouldn't recognize the truth if it were staring him in the face. In my prior post, I commented on spirituality and religion. The old adage, 'God works in mysterious ways' comes to mind. I believe Lisa was taken away so soon after she got married for a reason. Lisa did not have the strength to fight Nick and his lies and Nick's dysfunctional parents. She fought the good fight, she battled cancer the last year of her life, but in the end the cancer won. Everything happens for a reason. I truly believe that our lives were charted for us the day that we were born. We are meant to go through what life has in store for us, we are meant to meet the people that we meet, etc. God (our higher power) bombards us with hardships in an effort to test our strength. Lisa did not have the strength to fight ...

"Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing." - Phyllis Diller

I believe that for the child, and for the parent seeking to guide him, it is not half so important to know as to feel. If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and the impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow. The years of early childhood are the time to prepare the soil. Once the emotions have been aroused - a sense of the beautiful; the excitement of the new and the unknown; a feeling of sympathy, pity, admiration, or love - then we wish for knowledge about the object of our emotional response. Once found, it has lasting meaning. It is more important to pave the way for the child to want to know. To me, a 'sense of wonder' is a centrally important aspect in a child's development.

Too many people have bought the societal message about which the poet, William Wordsworth, alluded to so perceptively many years ago when he wrote:

"The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!"

Most adults get so caught up in the daily grind, life's routine, their work, chores, etc. that they wind up repressing their sense of wonder - the core and meaning of life itself. No wonder so many adults are threatened or annoyed by the spontaneity of young children.

Wonder becomes possible when children can risk being themselves without there being any risk at all.

Oh, how I hope and pray that we may develop, preserve, and enrich a sense of wonder in children of all ages.