We were at the mall last Sunday to scout for some things we needed at the house when two separate incidents totally made a lasting impact on us two, my mate and I. One happened as we descended the stairs to the lower floor where the grocery section was. That was when we heard, from above the drone-like noise of the crowd, a shrill “Thank youuu” just below us. At our left was a cotton candy stall and before it were two pig-tailed girls of about four or five. One was almost hugging a huge blue cotton candy to her face, her eyes closed in total ecstasy, while the other who awaited her order, was jumping in anticipation.
And I thought, such innocent but poignant display of true appreciation, if I ever saw one. Not to compare, but I must have heard several “Thank youuu” coming from some adults, followed with ‘you didn’t have to..’ and depending on whether you knew them deep close enough or not, their level of sincerity wouldn’t come close or be at par with those two kids’. Even for most of us, ‘thank you’ has just sadly become as customary and knee-jerk as ‘hi’ and ‘good morning’ at the office.
The other incident happened right in front of a huge replicas of the Bear Brothers (from the We Bare Bears Children’s TV show) at a local Mini So. One dad who walked past us playfully nuzzled his two-year old just close enough to go cheek-to-cheek with one of the bears several times and at that, you could hear the continuous happy cackle of the babe each time he was brought nearer, even wanting to kiss it with each pass. So relatable!
I guess like all moms and dads alike, we must have experienced this same feeling; that no matter how many times we get a baby to laugh aloud heartily in any of our particular gesture or antic, we are never worried that it would find it monotonous in the end. That being farthest from our minds, it is just also too unheard of in a child.
Now, with their pristine and innocent view of the world opening up around them, this makes me wonder, what or who eventually who teaches them to distinguish whether anything was boring or not in the first place? More important, when and where do they acquire other inclinations which gradually lead them to shed off their sense of unspoiled view, thereby implanting in them the very beginnings of a viewpoint? Even as we accept children as both unique and creative, even with the best intentions, we, borne of different culture, race, beliefs and sense of family, mold them into resembling the rest of us. Whether we like it or not. This is why I’d rather see them happily shouting their hearts out the park or the mall, wherever, resplendent in their still-innocent and spritely spirits.
