#4 The World is Heaven through the Eyes of a Child

Mama with my youngest sister, Bubbles :)

“It takes a very long time to become young.” ―Pablo Picasso

“For children are innocent and love justice, while most of us are wicked and naturally prefer mercy.” ―G.K. Chesterton

“In their innocence, very young children know themselves to be light and love. If we will allow them, they can teach us to see ourselves the same way. ”―Michael Jackson

"Age of Innocence"

WHENEVER I look at my youngest sister, I always have the feeling that within her tiny world, she is happy. The simplest of things make her smile and yet the subtlest hint of pain makes her cry. But when I look at her eyes, the world is like paradise. But I know, when she grows older, every hint of paradise in this world would gradually disappear - paving way to the various realities of life that could either ignite the passion of the strong or crumble the hearts of the weak.

And yet how I wish to remember all the memories of my childhood. Because by being a child, we are brought to heaven's arms. I speak of this in an honest and heavenly way even if I've been agnostic for far too long. Maybe, it reflect how bleakly I view the world now that I am older.

This is my fourth blog. Unlike the others blogs that I have written before this which primarily deal with hard-core political issues that are both global and domestic, now, I am tapping into my inner sensibilities. I retrospect and dream of a utopia, through children's eyes.This is my normative version of heavenly desire. Given the realities that we encounter both in class and outside, do we really have a shot in heaven?

The world is what you want it to be

They say that the world is what you want it to be. It could be a pretty good place to live. It could be a happy place with various wonders. Now I wonder if that claim is palatable. Because I feel, that even if we attempt to be happy, we could fulfill certain aspects of our lives with happy thoughts but there are far edges of it that we could never fill with selfish happiness, happiness for our own. And yet, there are people who were able to shut out the rest of the world and create a tiny box which they call their everything. In that scenario, you can be happy. Well at least for a little while. For reality will forever haunt us of what is out there and it will never die down.

The pain and suffering of people around the world, the cries of children when they are hungry - all these and more resonate a hundred fold especially in the silence of the night. Others call it conscience, I call it collective consciousness. That regardless of how we attempt to shelter ourselves from the painful realities of the world, we are connected to the rest of humanity through an inkling that will never fade away. Especially now the world is smaller than yesterday, and we call it globalization.

Yet, what do we call those people who have the heart to steal money from government funds knowing that their people are dying of hunger? What do we make out of those who people who have the guts to kill hundreds of people in order to covet the political spotlight? What should we do to those powerful corporations that kill on small and barely-thriving industries that attempt to make an honest living out of business? We call these traditional politics, fanaticism and competition. But what about the people who are behind them? Should we just accept the reality that they exist and just leave it at that?

The drawbacks of being a child

There is so much painful realities in the world that a single blog cannot obviously cover them all. But come to think of it, I do not wish to be a child. Because as children, we were vulnerable and dependent. Living up in this world, being vulnerable and dependent makes you a target for exploitation and domination. Children's perception of the world is so innocent, so beautiful. Yet come to think of it, I would not wish to live in a lie. I would rather be pained by the striking realities of everyday living if in exchange for that, I have the chance to change the wrongs in the world. Being older brings us closer to wisdom (I hope). And being a child forever, careless and fragile, would not make a world a better place. It would certainly create an environment so conducive to evils, human nature.

I envy children for at a short period of their lives, they have so much to look forward to when tomorrow comes. But reality kicks in hard. Now, children also reflect the realities that they live in even before they have the capacity to understand. Children are being sold to various trades in exchange for profit and sometimes even by their own parents who are supposed to love them and care for them. This is the world that we have created after thousands of years of existence. We have deprived children of their youth. Well a majority part of them, those who could not afford a silver spoon for porridge or a golden bell for playtime.

This is the world we live in. We have corrupted every possible institution we could. But does this mean that we are left with nothing to fight for? Every new day comes a new chance for a new life. We could always attempt to change the wrong we see in the world and fight for it until we make it happen. Others say it is impossible. The world is too large a place to initiate change. But lots of people have made this happen - Jesus Christ, Martin Luther, Mohandas Gandhi and many, many more have shed hope amidst the harrowing sight of life today. We could be the change we wish to see in the world. Only if we will it to be so.✻