Time it was. And what a time it was. It was a time of innocence.
The words are from the song, Bookends, written by Paul Simon in 1968. And they lead me to wonder of late, have we, as human beings, ever truly had a time of innocence? A time when we felt free of guilt and blame and malice and fear? Simon, if I’m not mistaken, was referring to childhood as that time of innocence. A sheltered and protected time. I suppose the question then, is at what point does childhood end? These days far too early. Children, like adults, know far too much now.
The New York Times today ran a video entitled, War Through the Eyes of Gaza’s Children. “I hope the fighting stops, so we can go home,” says a five year old little boy in a dirty Superman T-shirt as he wanders a makeshift tent city of refugees. The camp houses over twenty thousand people. Over eleven thousand of them are children under twelve. “We came here because we have nothing,” says a six-year-old. “Life is bad here,” says a trembling, ten year old girl. “We fear for our lives.”
The song, Bookends, continues. Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph. Preserve your memories; They’re all that’s left you.
What photographs, what memories, will these children, will all children everywhere, take forward into their lives? Certainly not ones to be cherished. Or will they simply forget the fear and heartbreak as, in so many times past, we have forgotten? It seems to me that forgetting is both a curse and a blessing. A curse because it allows human beings to repeat the same mistake over and over again, but a blessing in that it helps us leave sad things behind and move on.
All that’s left for you are memories? No. All that’s left for you is now. For the sake of all our innocent children I pray we finally do something positive with now
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