We've learned countless times that all children, possibly except one, grow up. This particular boy plays a pipe, loses his shadow, fights pirates and considers giving someone a thimble to be a sign of affection.
J.M. Barrie has enlightened our hearts with "Peter Pan" since 1911 and the book, which I recently finished, is still timeless. I can remember seeing the Disney version of the movie when I was little and pretending that I was Wendy and could fly if I jumped off my bed.
The results to that experiment did not get me to Neverland but left me in tears, running to my mom. Peter's passions are limitless, but throughout the story I feel like one is consistent: to stay a child forever.
Now that you are a collegiate, responsible, intelligent person, don't you wish you were still eight years old? We exhaust ourselves with trying to live up to being independent human beings, when all we really want to do is nothing.
Play. Laugh. Scrape our knees. Hang upside down on the monkey bars. Make a fort out of pillows. Fly to Neverland. Many of us act childish and jump in the leaves but have to put our minds back in check and realize that we have to be adults. That sounds so sad.
And to think that when we were eight years old, all we ever wanted to be was grown up. I put on makeup and wore high heels, and my brothers would wear my dad's ties and carry a briefcase.
I have recently discovered that you can have the best of both worlds. The most wonderful thing about being 19 is knowing that our entire lives are ahead of us; they have hardly even begun. We no longer have to worry about who we are because we haven't come close to growing into the people that we are going to be.
One of my favorite people turned 21 this weekend, and to really celebrate growing older we threw an eight-Grade Dance-themed party. When we are forced to go forward we choose to go back, which happens in many cases, not just in the case of getting older.
People were decked out in butterfly clips and white eyeliner, jeans and jean jacket combinations and Adidas superstar tennis shoes. Although we looked fantastic and totally in character, it was the childlike behavior that really made life decent that evening. Not to mention the 21-year-old "party favors" that came into play.
In all honesty, it's nice to escape the hectic lives that we're forced to live these days. Acting our age shouldn't mean that we need to sacrifice fighting pirates and flirting with mermaids.
Growing up now doesn't have the appeal that it had when we were learning to ride a two-wheeler or struggling to stay popular in middle school. We must embrace our inner-child and realize that we are still kids.
Going to Neverland every now and again is good for our souls and truly makes us human.
Write to Chelsea at cppicken@bsu.edu.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
