Sharon Anderson Morris explains: "A sculpture of two adults after a disagreement, sitting with their backs to each other. Yet, the inner child in both of them simply wants to connect. Age has many beautiful gifts but one we could live without is the pride and resentment we hold onto when we have conflicts with others. The forgiving, free spirit of children is our true nature. Remember this when you feel stubborn."#
I don't agree. Sometimes the right thing to do is to set pride to the side and renew the friendship. The child always wants to, but the adult also has a valid and important, not foolish, contribution to make -- safety. #
The child can have the impulse to connect unconditionally, because there is an adult to put the brakes on if there is real danger. The child can't exist without the adult. When we are children, the adult must be external. Later in life we will be both the child and the adult.#
The child, as the sculpture illustrates, wants to connect, but the adult isn't ready. It's possible that they've reconciled many times, and every time the same thing happens. That's also a pattern of humanity. So the adult is constrained by memory. The adult might narrate: "I remember this person hurt me the last time I trusted them. Every time I trusted them. So as much as the child wants to reconcile, I can't. At some point it's wrong to trust."#
There are billions of people on the planet, we can't be friends with everyone, although, again, the child would like to -- the adult knows there isn't enough time. So you have to choose. #
Also it could be that there are reasons you can't be close to this person. There's always disappointment and regret in life, and it's not wrong, it just is.#
Finally one more work of art on this topic. Charlie's inner child wants to believe this time Lucy will let him kick the ball. We hope by now he's figured out it's never going to happen. #
Last update: Thursday October 29, 2020; 3:07 PM EDT.
You know those obnoxious sites that pop up dialogs when they think you're about to leave, asking you to subscribe to their email newsletter? Well that won't do for Scripting News readers who are a discerning lot, very loyal, but that wouldn't last long if I did rude stuff like that. So here I am at the bottom of the page quietly encouraging you to sign up for the nightly email. It's got everything from the previous day on Scripting, plus the contents of the linkblog and who knows what else we'll get in there. People really love it. I wish I had done it sooner. And every email has an unsub link so if you want to get out, you can, easily -- no questions asked, and no follow-ups. Go ahead and do it, you won't be sorry! :-)
