Innocence is lost because it's pretty hard to keep track of. "where did I put my car keys?" "Um, did you check the kitchen table?" "ah, there they are....now where is my innocence?"
"I think you left that somewhere in your childhood, did you check the 7th grade yet?"
I remember learning about sarcasm in grade school. Vince told Lori, "yeah, I love you too" and I said, "What!? You love her?" He was responding to her ripping on her...and all I heard him say was that he loved her. No Sean, sarcasm is when the actual meaning of something is the opposite of the literal meaning. Ohhhhh, that's great...
The opposite of innocence isn't sarcasm. I don't think it's lying, or doing bad stuff. I've seen it more as a hardening of someone's demeanor. You talk politics with someone and they spit venom on you. You speak kindly about someone who has crossed someone else and it's like you just slapped them in the face. There's a palpable bitterness that might be fun to point out when they're not around....but it just sucks the life out of a room.
It's easy to put up that hardened shell because then you don't get hurt...like the innocents. You can play life like you're smarter than those who still believe in an idealistic political view that has proven false for hundreds of years, "Yeah, but wouldn't it be great if it did work?" You can point out not only how dumb other people can be, but how un-funny, un-interesting, how bad of a dresser, athlete, or person someone else is.
One drawback is that you can't like pop music, or most popular things. Cool is often the opposite of innocence. You can't have too much fun at something, for fear that someone else will let you know that that something wasn't that fun. You have to sort of hover above it all.
I think it's a little easier to point out flaws in others once you've lost your innocence. Jesus tells us to come to Him like little kids. When I come home, Griffin yells, " DADDY!" and runs to tackle me. He isn't playing it safe, cool, smart, or laid back. He's just running to dad. He screws up all the time, lies, takes stuff that isn't his, he did some time for armed robbery a few years back - but he still lives out this sort of naive innocence that's inspiring to watch.
Remember those days?
I remember the time Griffin and I knocked over a 7eleven in Delaware. Those were the days.
ReplyDeletei have seen that kid hold his own with a gat. scary stuff. if he and i were to meet in a dark alley, i hope there's no knife pulling because i would probably pooh myself. and i am steve bragg.
ReplyDeleteGriffin is pretty tough and Cooper is learning from him. His first words as he wielded his piece were, "Get me some apple juice mofo!"
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