So, what is the difference in being a child and being an adult? My answer is choice. Deliberate choice.
To the unobserved eye, the actions of an adult and child might look just the same. But their intention and level of awareness are on completely different levels.
How?
Its 6 am. You are doing your daily jog when you see a 5 year old and a 40 year old (dad) enter the park. The child runs towards the flower beds. The dad runs behind him. Playfully. They chase each other, the child cackling with laughter and the adult with a big wide grin till he finally catches the kid. A great start to the day- for both of them, you wonder.
But lets go back an hour.
Its 5 am. Dad hasnt slept much last night. The new boss has been giving him a lot of grief - giving him stiff deadlines to achieve sales targets. At this time, leaving the job is not an option. Jobs are difficult to come by. And then there is the pain in the heels that refuses to go away. He has been planning to get to the doc for the last 4 days but the only appointment available is 2 days later. And he has to be there for dad's surgery this weekend that has been freaking him out. Right now, life is hard. He wishes he could just sleep away the troubles and wake up to a boss-free and pain-free day. But that is just wishful magic thinking. Not gonna happen. So, he talks to himself, reminds how important it is for him to spend these 45 minute with his son in the morning, and begins to get ready.
The kid had a good night's sleep. He looks forward to every morning when he can catch up and play with dad. He is groggy when dad wakes him up, but then he has the whole day to sleep since it is still summer vacation. He does not think too much.
So, here they are, an hour later. Running around the park. But the adult made a choice. He accepted that life, right now, was hard. But that was ok. He knows that there never will be a perfect care-free morning. Something or the other will always worry him. He has to get into the arena and dare the bull, knowing that he will never have the complete armour. That the fear of bungling it all up would always be there and he has to accept the fear and yet act.
Brave. Yes, that is what adult acts are like. And mind you, it has nothing to do with age. Some children never grow up.
