Every year, the Avanzada Católica, a catholic movement of Pro Ecclesia Sancta, which mission is to promote the Church’s holiness, prepare Freshmen students for their religious confirmation. One of the traditions of this preparation, apart from the retreat, is the gymkhana. Since I’m part of the group of “guides” I assisted and was part of this ridiculously fun event. Everyone was dressed according to the theme of his or her team. There was a group of cowboys, militaries, crazies, superheroes, and two or three others that I don’t really remember. Everyone participated of several activities; whether it was dancing as foolishly as you could, using all your strength in tug of war, or cheering as loud as possible. At the end of the day only one of the teams won the longed price, but -as cliché as it may sound- we were all winners. Last time I saw a group of people having so much fun was perhaps when I was 6 or 7 years old. During the gymkhana, while behaving as a child, I ironically had a very mature realization.
When trying to burst a balloon, and therefore sitting on it with all my might, I felt a genuine adrenaline. During the entire day I experienced many intense feelings/ sensations that threw me back to my ages as an infant. I understood that for kids, every sensation is extremely intense. We, as teenagers (or adults), experience these magical feelings only in special moments. For some a wide variety of drugs are needed, for others it is just a matter of going to a soccer match and watching their favorite team play, or hearing a song. I believe that those who have their heads straight and their feet well planted, and yet can enjoy such intense sensations are truly happy.
The life of a child is full of exceedingly intense experiences. For instance, the first object that I loved was a small blue blanket, one that became part of myself. If it was taken away from me, or washed, I made a tremendous tantrum. I started to throw the blanket and other things away, expecting them to be picked up and returned. During my childhood I have been in many situations like this, where I love something so much that it actually became part of myself, and disaster resulted when it was taken away from me. The thing here is that I was in two worlds: the world that every adult shared with me was also my own imaginative world, and so I was able to experience it intensely. Why did this happen? The reason is that my parents did not insist on establishing me a definite perspective. If I wanted to fly, my father wouldn’t say, “people can’t fly”, but rather, he would put me in his shoulders, and such sensation would be so intense that I would think that I had flown like a bird.
Later on, I realized that flying is impossible. That only in dreams the ability to levitate can be, to some extent, retained, and that the “grown up contribution” to this crazy idea had been the fabulous fairy tales like the Seven-League Boots, or the Magic Carpet. Last year, in P. E class, we did a unit on long and high jumps. I always tried my best to jump as far and high as I could... and that was all that remained from the massively acute feelings I had with the idea of flying in my childhood. Indeed, as we grow-up, the “real” world starts to overthrow and shadow our own “imaginative” world. Thus, we lose such sensitivity to intense sensations, or in other words, our hearts harden and we start to be unhappy, angry with everyone around us.
When trying to burst a balloon, and therefore sitting on it with all my might, I felt a genuine adrenaline. During the entire day I experienced many intense feelings/ sensations that threw me back to my ages as an infant. I understood that for kids, every sensation is extremely intense. We, as teenagers (or adults), experience these magical feelings only in special moments. For some a wide variety of drugs are needed, for others it is just a matter of going to a soccer match and watching their favorite team play, or hearing a song. I believe that those who have their heads straight and their feet well planted, and yet can enjoy such intense sensations are truly happy.
The life of a child is full of exceedingly intense experiences. For instance, the first object that I loved was a small blue blanket, one that became part of myself. If it was taken away from me, or washed, I made a tremendous tantrum. I started to throw the blanket and other things away, expecting them to be picked up and returned. During my childhood I have been in many situations like this, where I love something so much that it actually became part of myself, and disaster resulted when it was taken away from me. The thing here is that I was in two worlds: the world that every adult shared with me was also my own imaginative world, and so I was able to experience it intensely. Why did this happen? The reason is that my parents did not insist on establishing me a definite perspective. If I wanted to fly, my father wouldn’t say, “people can’t fly”, but rather, he would put me in his shoulders, and such sensation would be so intense that I would think that I had flown like a bird.
Later on, I realized that flying is impossible. That only in dreams the ability to levitate can be, to some extent, retained, and that the “grown up contribution” to this crazy idea had been the fabulous fairy tales like the Seven-League Boots, or the Magic Carpet. Last year, in P. E class, we did a unit on long and high jumps. I always tried my best to jump as far and high as I could... and that was all that remained from the massively acute feelings I had with the idea of flying in my childhood. Indeed, as we grow-up, the “real” world starts to overthrow and shadow our own “imaginative” world. Thus, we lose such sensitivity to intense sensations, or in other words, our hearts harden and we start to be unhappy, angry with everyone around us.