Let's stop being mad

I’m certain that we all start going a little mad after the age of two. Before then life to us is curious. Life to us is fascinating. Life to us is intriguingly peculiar and unknown. Life to us is an exploration. Everything amazes and delights us from a game of peek-a-boo to our own hands and toes. We're completely honest, transparent and authentic. We don't know any other way. We speak up and we speak out regardless of what our environment says. 

If we feel joy we squeal and bubble up with uncontainable laughter. If we feel sorrow we shout and wail un-apologetically. We accept and reject things with a fierceness like no other. We say YES and NO with equal fervor embracing new things while asserting our boundaries. We don't know any other way. We're hungry for our world. We're wide-eyed learners taking in everything we can with an eagerness that declares that this world is captivating, it’s wondrous, and it’s mesmerizing. The light in our eyes shines so bright anyone who sees us can’t look away.
​
But after the age of two we start listening to the other mad ones. The ones who have forgotten the wisdom and wonder innate to our being. The ones who have held themselves apart from their own authentic and transparent nature. We listen when they tell us to keep quiet. We listen when they tell us we can't have things, we can't be things, we can't do things. We listen when they tell us the world is scary. We listen when they tell us things are here to be known even when that knowledge often reveals itself temporary and unreliable. We adhere to mad rules and mad expectations. We don false personas and start playing mad games. We forget to be curious. We forget to wonder. We forget to be fascinated. We forget to speak up and speak out and boldly express our truths. We forget to keep that light in our eyes on.

We become the mad ones teaching false lessons. We become the ones telling the little wise one’s to keep quiet. We become the ones telling the little bright ones that they can’t be things, they can’t do things, and they can’t have things. We forget that we were once like them, bright and curious and filled with wonder.

What gains are walking upright and chewing food if we forget that life is curious, unknown and worth the interested inspection through child-like eyes? What gains are the tools and gadgets we can use as adults if we’ve forgotten that life is a constant exploration, a fascinating unfolding and we are lifelong learners? What gains is it to speak languages if we’re inauthentic and dishonest in our communications – if we withhold parts of ourselves back in the communion that is to be communication? What do we gain by continuing to believe we can’t do things, we can’t have things, we can’t be things?

Let’s wake up and remember the wonder, the intrigue, the exploration that every moment gifts to the light in our eyes. Let’s remember ourselves as we truly are and not as we’ve been taught to believe. Let’s stop being mad. Let’s stop belonging to the tribes of madness.