Childhood… The Dawn of Every Life.
“Childhood is indeed the dawn of every life,
An age of blooming innocence and rising wonder, A time of honest reflections and unblemished purity.
When all hurts are heeled by an easy forgetfulness,
and all delights are unending to the carefree merriment of an ever ready playfulness,
When every flower tells a tale of its own,
and every blade of grass is an ambassador from the world beneath the realms of men,
When every passing cloud is another creature from a distant land,
and every sigh of wind is a message from the heavens above,
When every tall tree is a sentinel to the secrets of its forest,
and every frowning mountain is a nail, hammered in by the ancient giants of the old days,
so sings mother nature to the music of a child’s fantasy,
and thus proclaims the beginning of his life.”
–Talha Masood
Every 20th of November is globally celebrated as the World Children Day. The day aims to highlight the significance of sowing the seeds of a healthier, brighter future, a more sustainable world by providing utmost care and affection to our children. For it is indeed an age of innocence and purity which waters our kindness and compassion and helps us mature our empathy so that should we wish to, we may serve humanity to the best of our ability.
Sadly, however, in today’s world as we grow up we are impressed upon a realization that the ideas and concepts of piety and purity, of truthfulness and honesty are mostly naïve assumptions and impractical notions which we so innocently but honestly harbor in an age of inexperience. As a result, most of us end up dismissing those ideas as products of a childhood fantasy or as beliefs fuelled by childish imagination. Under the heavy burden of pains and hardships we forget that the purity of that innocent age was to be protected, tested and trialed and hardened by the scorching heat of life’s journey. We forget that were we to willfully protect and guard our faith in such a purity, it would have become an all enduring shield for the survival, would have become the most cherished strength in creating a more honest and pure world. Instead, abandoning such ideas, we begin to try our utmost to come up to the general criteria of maturity which does not only require us to be cautious and weary of the world and its people but downright distrustful; perhaps even deceitful, if you can manage it without being compromised in any way.
Here let’s take a momentary pause in our lives and endeavor to understand, if this truly is maturity, then why does it not occur to us while raising our children to teach them dishonesty, to teach them how to be self-centered opportunists? The answer dear reader is simple. It is because the dawn of every age needs to be pure, carefree and unblemished by life’s more severe trials. Nevertheless, how the dawning age proceeds into the blazing harshness of life’s noon is in the hands of its guides and guardians. For every child needs to understand from parents and guardians that the purity of their hearts is their most prized treasure and should not be lost at any cost. With such knowledge our children would have the wisdom to be cautious without being deceitful, to be wise and weary without being dishonest and distrustful.
In essence dear reader, if we are one of those who lost their most prized treasure along the way, let us learn from the innocence of our children, apologize for such a carelessness to nobody but ourselves and reclaim the purity of our hearts. If we have not, then let us teach and pass on the Jules we have added to our guarded treasure; our kindness and candor, trust and reliability, faithfulness and sincerity, to our children, the masters of our legacy!