through their eyes

while driving to work this morning, i was remembering being a kid and looking out across, or being in the middle of, this field by my parents' house. we lived right on the western edge of ctown. my neighbor's back yard is where the country started.

i just remember that field. it was so peaceful and calm. so golden! so HUGE! i imagined it would take DAYS to walk to the point which i could no longer see. and it stretched out from me in all directions i faced. i felt a part of this enormous expanse that words could not describe. oh! how big the world seemed then. africa (where the kids lived who were sad when i didn't finish my dinner lived) was sooooo far away. and china or japan? oh my! i think the farthest possible to go was australia. wow! it must take forever to get there, i thought... i think back and can smile and softly laugh, happily.

things are just so spread out for children. not only the world, but the days of the week, the summer, heck! even a sandbox or a tree in the back yard. "travel" is a necessity. it is enjoyable and exciting. things are just so far away because they're so spread out. even stress and anxiety just seem like one could never even get to them if they tried. oh the youth, the innocence...

this is all so apparent when you watch a parent watch their children play in the playground, or in the back yard. look at the parents! their faces! their hearts are so full of happiness for their children right then. today's society though teaches us that our world is not big at all. travel has become a burden, even if it's only to travel across the yard to get the mail out of the mailbox. people grumble. walls are put up and infinity can no longer be seen. i have difficulty imagining what happens past the horizon because i can no longer see it. there are too many buildings and such in the way. children certainly did not erect these buildings. it's as if one has set up walls and baricades to hide the eternal spread of space. one creates his own world inside of this one, and sadly, is ceasing to be a part of it.

oh the hope that the children have! will we see it. the wonder, the imagination, the mystery, the amazement. may we see it. may we foster it and cherish it for it is a good thing. this world is huuuuuuuuuuu-mongous. i hope you would see it as such, that you could be that child in the middle of the great field...free. cheers . . ..