Childhood Innocence

[AprilSeven]

Awww you guys are the best!!! At least I wasn't alone in my innocence!

[jeffbert]

I remember thinking that umbrellas would work just like parachutes, one of us held one while jumping from a porch. As it was not more than 2-3 feet high, we could not really tell if it worked, though. It is good that nobody tried jumping off the roof.

Also, I believed in sci-fi things, such as laser guns that vaporized people. Today, when I read classic sci-fi, I can laugh at the seemingly silly elements, but what did those who read these stories back then think of such things as frozen air on the moon that thawed and brought forth life during the lunar days? is there a childhood for the human race also?

But back to the topic, sometimes it seems like being a kid again might be fun, but I wonder--

[AprilSeven]

I'd love to be a kid again -- but only if I could remember how "this" life has been as an adult. The child truly IS the "father of the man" -- my insecurity and fears have kept me from going places my heart yearns for. As an adult you get pidgeon-holed/locked in and it is very hard to change your fate.

@Jeffbert - I like your comment about a "childhood" for the human race, and have also wondered about that. I feel like we're in our "adolescence" - becoming more and more aware that we are "one world" -- but not always behaving in ways that reflect that awareness.

Then I heard Dr. Michio Kaku talk about the Kardashev scale, and how civilizations are graded by "types" -- and we're struggling to get from 0 to 1, so I guess we're all STILL kids!!

[karl0s]

Whenever I used to see the moon appear while it was still light, I used to think it was another earth. I used to think the moon only strictly came out at night.

[jeffbert]

AprilSeven, what I meant was that there was a time when people could believe in a Martian invasion, as evidenced by the War of The Worlds radio drama. In this case, they even took measures to keep people from thinking it was real. Between the commercials & such, they announced that this was just a radio version of Well's story, but somehow more than a few believed it.

Such things were not just for kids! Nobody KNEW that Mars was a dead planet. The science fiction of the time was not always so far-fetched as it seems now. True, time travel & teleportation might have been, but how did people receive JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, or THE LOST WORLD? Who could say for sure that such a plateau in S. America was beyond belief?

Now, in humanity's adolescence, we still enjoy the stories, but lack that sense of awe or wonder that people had just 100 years ago. 100 years from now, robots might be totally integrated into everyday life, & I really do not want to think about what else might have happened. People may laugh at the things that we believe, just as we laugh at the prospect of a Martian invasion. irate: