A Note to the Lost Boys

As little children we are fed the notion that growing up is bad. That childhood marks the best years of our lives: we are carefree, we are blamelessly irresponsible, we are pure-hearted, we are truly happy. Movies like Peter Pan featuring the Lost Boys, commercial ads for companies such as Toys’r'Us, with the logo, “I don’t wanna grow up…”, and a slew of other media, teach us that being a child is the peak and culmination of the human experience.

How terribly sad it would be if this notion were actually true. That by 10 or 11 the best years of our lives have faded. Our innocence can exist no longer. And even worse is the thought that the best years of our lives are those marked by immaturity.

Think of the loss when a young man full of potential and intelligence wastes his day away sitting on a couch playing video games. A young man who was created to serve humanity, who was endowed with gifts and talents to do just this — to work for the edification of himself and his compatriots — and who instead never develops these talents — perhaps unaware himself that he is even in possession of them! What could he achieve if he weren’t too busy behaving like a child?

And what about the young woman who wastes her day away gossiping and keeping track of who’s wearing-what and how-tightly-it-fits and who’s-dating-who, and when will that-who-date-me? A young woman who was created noble, who was endowed with treasures and gems that through vigorous education can be unearthed to contribute to the well-being of us all. A young woman who will one day be the primary educator of her children — what will she teach them when her days have been occupied with mindless babble and mundane concerns?

Read the rest of the article here.