I am not gonna lie. I did not go onto Oncourse until yesterday to read and see what we had to do for the assignment, but since I was off, I took the day to observe my surroundings and notice things that perhaps others would not. I tried to remember when I was a child and how I viewed the world then. One thing that I definitely remember was that it seemed much bigger. When you are younger and shorter, things seem much larger to you. I remember once when I was at the supermarket with my mom, I wandered off and got lost.
The store seemed so huge to me and I could not find her. I started crying and a lady asked if I was lost and I said I was. She took me over to the checkout isle and they called my mother's name on it. After what seemed like an eternity, she returned with a mad look on her face because I had wandered off. From then on, I had to hold onto the cart when we went to the store. I also remember that when I was a child, I used to have this belief that my dad was the tallest man in the entire world. My dad is a big guy, at 6 foot 7. I used to go with him to places and watch as he towered over everyone everywhere we went. One of the biggest shocks of my childhood, other than finding out the truth about Santa Claus, was when I met someone taller than my dad for the first time. I remember we were at Six Flags Great America in line for one of the roller coasters. There was a guy a little ahead of my dad in line and he was tall. As we got closer to the ride we ended up in the same cart line. My dad stood right behind the man and he was a good head taller than him. My jaw dropped. I grabbed my dad's shirt tail and said that I thought no one was taller than him. He laughed and asked the guy how tall he was and he said he was 6 foot 11. My childhood world went crazy after that.
As I sat out yesterday and took a walk enjoying the nice weather, I noticed that I could no longer think as a child, but as an adult. I am no longer a 7 year old boy but a 23 year old man. All of my beliefs have changed since I was a child and I thought about why that was. For one, I am further educated so I see things differently in a logical perspective. I am also bigger, so the world seems just a bit smaller than it used to. I have other commitments now such as college, work and bills so the world is alot more complex than it used to be. Things are so simple when you are a child. The greatest gift a child has is imagination and I felt that I lost alot of it along the way of growing up. I know that I am still creative. But, I feel that looking around at everyday objects and trying to make something out of them is difficult. Why has it become so difficult? The answer is because we live in a society where we are not supposed to think or imagine. They have a certain standard for us and if we do not follow in that norm than we are looked as different or odd. I wish that I can be 7 again and all that I had to worry about was friends and play. Now, I am thinking about my future. That can be a scary thing. A great example about how this project felt for me can be easily illustrated in this video. It is from a television show that we all know and love. Can you figure out which character is the 7 year old me and which is the 23 year old me? It's sad how things change and it is so confusing to me as to why and how that happened. I really hope to find that kid like imagination in me again.
http://spongebob.nick.com/videos/clip/idiot-box-full-episode.html
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