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Today's
Meditation:
For the longest time, I never really thought to stop and
figure out just what the term "normal" meant to
me when thinking of other people and myself. It's
such an easy word to use, and we generally throw it around
pretty carelessly using it to mean something to the extent
of "doing things just the same way that most other
people do them." The problem I had with that
was in looking around and seeing that so many people who
were "normal" by that definition weren't all
that happy-- they were often frustrated and unfulfilled and
unhappy.
I came to find that people often call other people
childish simply because they weren't doing things that
made them "normal." They were having too
much fun, it seemed, and the others had to chastise them.
. . why? Because they wished they were having as
much fun as the others? Or because they thought they
were doing those childish people a favor by trying to
guilt-trip them into doing things in the same ways that
everyone else does them?
Wayne has the right idea. First of all, don't let
others judge you on the basis of criteria you haven't
approved of. If you feel like blowing bubbles or
skipping rope or singing out loud, then it's your choice
whether to do those things-- it's not the choice of anyone
else who isn't walking in your shoes. If you want to
horse around a bit to relieve tension instead of taking
the "normal" route of going out for beers, then
by all means-- horse around. When all is said and
done, children are quite ingenious with their acceptance
of the world and other people, and with their constant searches
for adventure and wonder, and it could do us a great deal
of good to emulate them instead of asking them to emulate
us.
For many people, childishness is a badge of honor--
growing
into being a child is a lofty goal for many people who
have very healthy perspectives on life.
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