Contemplating the holidays, summer vacation and the coming school year was the extent of my future thinking for the long term. Not being required to face the vast unknown of the future left me free to enjoy my childhood. A freedom later to be eliminated by the responsibility of becoming an adult.
As a child I didn’t have to worry. Dealing with the future was a burden left to my parents. However, childhood does contain a series of unique events that begin to form who we become as an adult. We don’t ponder on it. It just is. The transition will occur – in the words of Patrick Rothfuss – “The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind.”
As we stroll through the days of childhood, we accrue knowledge, collecting them like a unique rock or stone, a found coin not to be spent, any trinket found on the ground that we deem special. This collection of facts and knowledge is cursed by time.
We now know that our world cannot be changed, only we can change. Thus, we are forced to accept that both failure and success are imperfectly intertwined. In turn, we must face endless choices, a never-ending act inflicting a weariness on our spirit thereby inhibiting change and choice.
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