Childhood. An age of innocence where time seems to hold no sway, and awareness of the future only extends as far as looking forward to school holidays, birthday and Christmas presents, and the latest issue of your favourite comic going on sale. That apart, there only seems to exist one big 'now', and whatever state you find yourself in feels like it will never end. The house you're living in will be your home forever, you'll always be a schoolboy (or girl), and your parents and siblings will be around for as long as you are - which feels like it will be for eternity. Childhood - the best days of our lives we're told, and unless you lived in a third world country beset by war and poverty or were the victim of abuse or cruelty, they are.
It's all downhill from there I'm sad to say. Age, illness, deaths of loved ones, financial and family worries, uncertainty about a future you never even realised lay ahead of you, so accustomed were you to the eternal present you once thought you had. Sure, there are good moments too as the years pass and your youth recedes, but they're always bittersweet once you reach that age where you're painfully aware there are more years behind you than lie ahead. Do policemen, teachers, shop assistants, workmen, etc., all look younger than you recall them being in your day? They're not, it's just that you're getting older and at the stage where you're beginning to 'fret to find your bedtime near'. The final bedtime that is.
So now that I've cheered everyone up with my positive and optimistic assessment, let me ask you all a question. Are you fulfilled in your life; do you have a goodly store of pleasant memories while yet adding to them each and every day, or do you feel that you never achieved your potential and still have so much more you want to do, while being all too well aware that you really don't have enough time ahead of you in which to do it? Linger a moment in the darker recesses of your mind, consider your life up to now, and then share your regrets (if any) and sadness of how quickly life seems to pass without us being aware of it until we near journey's end.
(There's no doubt about it - I'll need to stop taking those happiness pills.)
"The final bedtime"! Have you been taking a songwriters course?
ReplyDeleteMy generation in Northern Europe really has had the best of things. I am lucky to have no regrets. It has been fun. Going to university in my mid-twenties made that possible. My answer would have been different otherwise.
I sort of nicked it from Lewis Carroll, TD. 'We are but older children, dear, Who fret to find our bedtime near.' He was obviously referring to the 'final bedtime'. I'm glad you have no regrets. Depending on what day I'm asked, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.
ReplyDelete