A few weeks ago we were walking with Emma in her stroller to an annual “teddy bear parade” that Gresham puts on each year. It was a sunny day and we had a lot of fun. I made a number of observances that day, mostly around how adults and children perceive the world. A few of Jesus’ teachings came to mind, “be as children” and “have faith like a child”… The way that children (ones whose Love tanks are full, and free of most trauma) view the world and live is simple, usually one-tracked, and clear.
About a week after that parade I was walking home from something from downtown Gresham, and needed to cross a busy street, one of the same crossings where just the weekend before we were crossing with Emma. On that first crossing the cars stopped for us almost immediately, and my happy family of three crossed without incident. Attempting to cross the street alone, well that’s another story. I waited a good three or four minutes for someone to stop and let me cross (there’s no light/crossing signal at this particular crossing)… I’m glad that people prioritize children and families when stopping at crosswalks, but what is it about our society that an adult man has to nearly step into cross traffic to get people to stop so he can cross a street?
I realize that people are generally not as cautious about adults as they are with children (this is most likely a natural response) – but why are we so callous against our fellow adults? What if we did view each other as children? Would we see a difference? Would the negativity and jaded attitudes go away? I’m not really that bothered by my own little experience, it just highlighted something about our culture, our human nature. After all, we were all once children – why allow life to jade our vision of each other?
As a Christian there’s a lot this life presents us with, and in the end, I truly believe seeing every person as a child truly helps bring clarity when relating to other humans. The world is a truly messed up place, nothing really makes sense, but on an individual level, a whole lot makes sense when we see each other as children.