Your Thoughts and Opinions Regarding "Innocence" (Purity).

[Aje]

As in, "the survivors of the shooting lost their innocence."

Note: this is something I've pondered for a couple of months and isn't related to the recent events in CT.

Anyways, my thoughts on innocence...

I find myself, occasionally, reminiscing about my childhood and, admittedly, succumb to some growing pains. I think most of these pains are a result of me recalling the loss of innocence by experiencing reality (e.g. - not getting the toy I wanted because my mom was broke or getting picked on by the older kids et al.) Sure, these aren't earth shattering moments (like those experienced in a school shooting or bombings in overseas countries) but everything is relative.

Then, I ponder more about it and arrive at this: it's, ultimately, better to lose innocence because it's inevitable for growth. Innocence can be related to ignorance of how the world is, no? It's akin to the garden of eden story where Adam loses his innocence by eating the apple and gaining knowledge. Why would anyone want to stay, "dumb," though?

Point is: it's better to lose your innocence and see how the world really works.

Yes, I'm not advocating for kids to be forced to lose their innocence but I'm saying that when it does happen, through whatever means, it shouldn't be looked at as such a terrible thing.

Thoughts?

 

[Shogun]

Really it's just a nice way of saying ignorance

 

[Dooby]

"Ignorance is bliss" is one of the truer sayings, yes, it is.

 

[Aje]

Really it's just a nice way of saying ignorance

that's what I thought.

 

[Suicide King]

Point is: it's better to lose your innocence and see how the world really works.

Yes, I'm not advocating for kids to be forced to lose their innocence but I'm saying that when it does happen, through whatever means, it shouldn't be looked at as such a terrible thing.

Thoughts?

Seeing people murdered in front of you at a young age will cause you to process thoughts your mind is not able to comprehend. You push the mind to far to one extreme that they never really experience a balanced and well adjusted life. This is how bitterness and dispair is created, you can't really compare it to not getting a toy. These kids might be scarred and damaged forever if they witnessed this animal kill their classmates.

 

[Aje]

Seeing people murdered in front of you at a young age will cause you to process thoughts your mind is not able to comprehend. You push the mind to far to one extreme that they really experience a balanced and well adjusted life. This is how bitterness and dispair is created, you can't really compare it to not getting a toy. These kids might be scarred and damaged forever if they witnessed this animal kill their classmates.

you're absolutely right about that. The only correlation I'm making with the tragedy in Newtown is the media's usage of "innocence." That's what reminded me of my thoughts on the subject.

This is more of a generally discussion on the less-traumatic ways an individual may lose their innocence.

 

[Suicide King]

you're absolutely right about that. The only correlation I'm making with the tragedy in Newtown is the media's usage of "innocence." That's what reminded me of my thoughts on the subject.

This is more of a generally discussion on the less-traumatic ways an individual may lose their innocence.

Once a kid hits middle school, they begin to learn about the facts of life. That's why you let kids roam when they hit that age. Grade schoolers need to have their innocence preserved no matter the cost.

 

[Robbie3000]

Once a kid hits middle school, they begin to learn about the facts of life. That's why you let kids roam when they hit that age. Grade schoolers need to have their innocence preserved no matter the cost.

Right. Kids should be allowed to learn about the harsh realities of life gradually. The youngest of these victims can't even process the concept and finality of death fully.

Poor little guys.

 

[Zapp Brannigan]

People often value innocence, but they don't really realize why. Innocence is something that reminds us of a time when we're so young and have such a clean slate that quite anything is possible to come to fruition if we can dream about it. We're all able to realistically dream about becoming astronauts at age 4 because we haven't had the chance to screw up, yet. We can dream of becoming world champion athletes. We can dream of becoming POTUS if we really want to. At that young of an age, we really can make just about anything happen if we follow our dreams because we're in such a malleable and formative state.

I sometimes think that when people put a heavy value on innocence, they are really trying to keep their kids and other loved ones in a mental state where anything is still possible because they've never done anything bad and have never had to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that finds their way to all of us in life. We haven't internalized bad experiences that allow us to harbor hatred, hurt, and other kinds of negative forces in our lives. We don't want our young people to try sexual things or drugs because we're afraid that it will take them away from the realm of "anything is possible" without realizing that without allowing ourselves to screw up or venture into the more dangerous and risky parts of life, nothing is possible.

I remember talking to someone the other day about how he was just getting into the EDM/electronica scene. I told him that I was really, really jealous of him because I remember how excited I had been when I was first discovering it. Everything from the girls, the music, the drugs, the love that was in the scene, it was completely intoxicating on so many levels. For myself, I still love the scene despite having its initial novelty being worn off on me, but I love watching people discover it for the first time and get in touch with a new side of themselves in the excited way that they always do.

The same thing can be applied to life. We want to preserve that initial excitement where people haven't been hurt and haven't scraped their knees so badly because it feels amazing to have the world as your oyster. You don't want someone to lose that because it means that options begin to close and that people have been hurt as well. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. That just means that we've lived. The real issue is: How can we value the things we've done and how we've lived.

 

[Fillerguy]

For most of Human history boys started learn about that life at 8. Girls started getting that work at 9.