Maligning the Innocence

It is said that every soul enters this world pure. Only the acts define whether it remains pure. What I understand by pure is that we can retain the level of innocence that a new born would have. A child accepts all and everything; good or bad. It is the environment, people or teachings which help define whether the innocence will be maintained.

Some days back I was watching a Hindi (National language) movie on television. The father has come to live with his son. In India the concept of nucleus family is taking hold yet it is considered that it is perfectly fine for the parents to live with their children in their old age. However, it was shown that the son and the daughter-in-law do not particularly welcome his presence and consider him to be a financial burden. This is made known to the father through their behavior. The father is sad with such behavior and decides to leave. Here there is a greater chance that the grand-child will treat his parents the same cause he has seen them do so with his grand-father. This is a definitive contamination of the child’s beliefs. He will perceive that the parents are not a burden not a responsibility of the children in their old age.

Coincidently another incident that took place when I was at Crosswords (I often visit this shop) the following day. A small child in an attempt to pull out a book displaced the other books on the shelf. Ashamed that his action will cause inconvenience to others collected the books. However, could not comfortably reach the shelf to put them back. He asked his mother for help who was back from her shopping spree. She retorted that the store personnel are paid to clean up the mess we create so it is not required. With all due respect the store personnel are paid to take care of the customers and for orderly functioning. However, we as customers are not intended to create a mess for them to clean up.

These were two separate incidences with different children. But the child goes through many such different or repetitive incidences in his life which help him form his perspective of what is right and wrong. There is a greater possibility that the child will mold his behavior similar to his parents thinking that elders are best guide.

There is a child in every one of us. That is any person starting a new phase in life is a child. So on a broader perspective we as elders or experienced mature individuals unknowingly or knowingly malign the innocence of ‘Children’ around us. Taking an instance of the corporate world, a new team member who works hard is repeatedly made to fill in for someone who tries to avoid work will feel used. The new team member will feel to avoid being used, it’s best to be in other persons shoes.

It becomes essential to identify the child and its level of innocence within us before trying to restoring it to original level of purity.