Love with a Child’s Heart

Love as you once did, with your whole, unbiased, full-to-exploding heart. Look as you once did, with eyes that seek only the soul.

We grow up being scolded on what not to eat, to wear, to say. The promised land of adulthood freedom awaits, and there you can eat, wear, and say what you like when you like. Then one day you’re an adult who has wandered to the bar-locked end of expected privilege. You’re heavy with exhaustion and disappointment. Sunken eyes look on you from the next cage over. They demand in their lidded stare that you eat to be thin, wear plain and forgettable clothing, say not what is on your mind but parrot your color-coded politician.

Blacken your childhood wonder. Resist joy at running in the rain. Laugh only at age-appropriate jokes. The troubling part is few people are ever told these worldly expectations. We are led by example because nails must be hammered into place.

But who says? Where is this invisible shackle leading from? Is it from fear of humiliation amongst our peers? From fear of being judged by faces that don’t smile real smiles?

Creativity does not expire. Self-expression does not have an age limit. Wear that sun-yellow shirt out in the rain. Grab the hand of your stubborn best friend and kick up the puddles. Find that unconditional love we spread as children and make an epidemic out of it. Away from the umbrage of adult delusions lies our answers, our true freedom.