I grew up in a small town. Population (approx.) 1200. As I look back on it, I had a good childhood, but I can't deny that I hated it to an extent. I never liked being a child. I always had a thirst for knowledge and experience, which being a child tends to stifle. Although I was given every opportunity to be a child and enjoy my childhood, I discarded it and did everything I could to move beyond it at a brisk pace.
At an age when most people are still naive and innocent, I was neither. That's not to say I did things I wasn't supposed to, but I knew about them. I knew about the things people do behind closed doors and in dark alleys, because I made sure I knew about them. Because of this approach, I spared myself from a lot of ugly moments in my life.
There are reflective moments which come and go where I sometimes wish I were more innocent than I am today. Things happen and I think to myself, "I wish the first thing I thought of when I saw that, was not what I'm thinking." However, one of the most important things I've learned from life, is that naïveté and innocence go hand in hand. You can't really have one without the other. Because of this, when I am in those reflective moments, I politely wave to them and stomp on the gas. I would not take a single ounce of naïveté for ten gallons of innocence.
Naïveté is what leads to taking the candy from the stranger and getting into the van. As we've seen here recently with Jaycee Dugard, it doesn't pay. As we've seen with millions of cases, and with the continuing hundreds of thousands of people who go missing every year. Yet, this is only one area where it can lead you.
Is there room in there for two?In the 50's and 60's, millions of Americans were literally told that if they hid under their desks, or even more shockingly--a newspaper, they could protect themselves from the carnage of an atomic bomb. This was a doctrine which was propagated even into the 80's. Astonishingly, people actually trusted their government enough, they believed it.
Today, as our government lies to us about their level of preparedness for H1N1, and more to the point, their level of knowledge as to what it even is or how it works, we can hear the gears grinding into motion as yet another "Duck and Cover" type of propaganda campaign begins.
This time, we'll be washing our hands a lot, coughing into our sleeves, and staying home from work when we are ill to prevent attaining and spreading the deadly virus. This is told to us by our ever trustworthy Federal Government who is doing "everything possible" to prepare for an outbreak. I don't know about you, but I've already started stockpiling long-sleeve shirts in anticipation. Don't judge me people, I'm just doing my part.
The two deadliest enemies to the ways of the World are Knowledge and Common Sense. They are your sword and shield. It is time for us to arm ourselves and start slaying the dragons.
