I am just in my teens right now, but I already miss myself from when I was little. I think I grew up a little too fast…and that kind of applies to our entire generation.
The times when the worst thing to happen in our day was being called fat as an insult seems such a distant memory…
Now we have assignments, projects, universities, deadlines, portfolios, extracurriculars, school politics, toxic competition (well, maybe a lot less now that the leadership positions we were targeting are gone) peer pressure and parent’s expectations, social images to maintain, relationship drama (luckily not all of us have to deal with this one) and to top it all of, the wretched situation of the world.
Our current position can be summed up with 16 year old Sasuke’s line to Hashirama Senju, the first Hokage - “I am neither innocent nor a child”.
(Which on one hand he was, and on the other he definitely wasn’t)
A lot of us growing up this fast has to do with the boom of internet and the lack of an age oriented filter for all the information out there. Being aware of everything happening around the world, all the mishaps and all the tragic events, has never been easier. It’s not that the world is in a worse position than it was in the past, if anything it is better, people have always been dying and there was always suffering everywhere. It’s just that we are more aware of it now and we really don’t need to be reminded of how fortunate we are to be where we are, we already know that. I don’t need anyone telling me that life could be worse, I know exactly what that means, and I may even have an accurate estimate of just exactly how worse.
Then while we may be thinking that we’ve grown up too fast, there are 10 year olds talking about racism, homophobia and cyber harassment…
I’d like to take another opportunity to make a second Naruto reference here, Madara Uchiha’s quote-
Wake up to reality! Nothing ever goes as planned in this cursed world. The longer you live, the more you realize that the only things that exist in this reality are pain, suffering and futility. – Madara Uchiha
And after much pondering…I would like to edit the statement “ignorance is bliss” to “innocence is bliss”. I personally feel that ignorance is weakness and there’s a great power in knowledge, of any kind, but innocence does have its benefits. Innocence brings with it an ability to trust people and not judge them at every step, a feeling that the world is a beautiful and nice place. It brings inner peace and an intricate happiness which I have lost over time as I’ve lost my innocence…
But, at the same time, I really doubt that someone like me should be entitled to their innocence for any longer…
If people like me were to stay innocent and unaware of the world’s problems, we’d be heading towards annihilation even faster. The age at which each generation has to take the mantle from the previous one is steadily decreasing and it was about time the youth started becoming relevant in the world’s issues.
If anyone’s watching me, they probably wouldn’t forgive me if I just decided to turn a blind eye to all the world’s problems and did nothing. I wouldn’t forgive myself and would personally think that I have wasted my life If I don’t help people in this fortunate life I have gotten…I know that my innocence lasted long enough and it’s about time I accept growing up and don’t resist it, the way I tried to last year.
I still like to remember the innocent me, but it’s better as it is, a fond memory. Innocence was great, but after one is cursed with knowledge, there really is no turning back…
Growing old is compulsory, growing up is optional…and I choose to grow up, even if the cost for maturity is innocence.
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