The simplicity of dinosaurs
For a child, it must be difficult to comprehend that people are deceptive creatures. But even more so, the advent of adulthood brings with it a certain kind of fatal attraction. Once you become what you despise, you will cross the threshold for good.
Evil, in the eyes of a child, is an alien phenomenon. It’s nestled somewhere deep in the brain. Alone, locked in a cage, waiting for that special something to be released.
We’re always looking for that special something. In the idea of a dinosaur, a once living creature no more, a child finds refuge that the madness in the world isn’t entirely false. There was a time when incomprehensible things existed. The impossibility of understanding life pervades the feeling of childhood. Even when adults pretend to understand life, they spend a lifetime wanting to be understood.
So they entice us with invitations. False invitations. It all seems so innocent at first. A certificate on a thin piece of paper. A ribbon. A booklet. Words in a fancy font. Signatures. The voice of an adult calling your name to the stage. A letter of acceptance from a university.
“It is my pleasure to inform you that you have been admitted to the Class of XXXX.”
Pleasure. Who does the pleasure belong to? You or the person extending the invitation? What makes institutions so enticing—something which will never belong to you? You grapple with these ideas in your head, never quite fully comprehending any of it. You refuse to understand it fully because life demands you to move forward. Forward momentum, the vice of all vices. You hear your role models beseech you to move forward. Don’t think. Don’t ask questions. Why resist the temptation of a good life?
Years later, midway through the journey of life, you stumble upon the wilderness of childhood. You gather things you used to own, questions you used to ask. There are boxes and boxes of these mysterious memories. Stuck on a scent, an idea, a look. All of a sudden you’re taken back to things that once roamed the earth. They were so majestic. So divine.
Where has the time gone? Where are my ideals?
What’s the point of ideals?
They had always been false.
I am sure of it.
Nostalgia is just another lie.
I live in a world of lies.
Move on now, child. You don’t belong to me anymore. The world beckons.
But in the privacy of your soul, you know the truth. The ardent nature of man cannot be gratified. You can follow your desires, but you may never reach the promised land. Life is one false invitation after another. You keep getting deceived, and you keep deceiving others. The cycle of revenge devours everything.
