Why was it that when we were little kids we thought that as long as we had our blankets or stuffed animals with us at all times so that we could hide under them as soon as trouble hit, the monsters couldn't get to us? We thought that if we couldn't see the monsters then there wouldn't be any possible way for them to be able to see us. Obviously that logic was ridiculous, but it made sense to us at the time. So many things made sense to us as children, but if we think back on them now, we realize that it made absolutely no sense. As a child, though, we want to feel safe so we think certain things will protect us even though there is no possible way that it could. Now we think that we know more and have experienced more, so we no longer have that childhood mentality of inanimate objects protecting us.
What we don't know is that some of us still have that logic now even though we don't realize it.We're the ones that will sit in the back of the classroom where we think nobody will notice us. When we were younger, the monsters were only in our imaginations, but now they have taken form into the people we see around us everyday. Now, I'm not saying that all people are monsters; what I'm saying is that some people see other people as monsters in the sense that they are afraid to socialize, they've been ridiculed throughout most of their lives, they've always been left out of groups, or maybe they just like to be alone. Whatever the reason is, we tend to try and hide from these people because we figure it's much easier to hide from the "monsters" than to just deal with them and ignore them.
Since this logic is parallel with our childhood thought that out blankets or stuffed animals could protect us from anything, how would secluded yourself from others help protect you from the "monsters" of life? Eventually, we are all going to have to accept this and just deal with the fact that people are going to make fun of you, put you down, leave you out, and do a bunch of other horrible things to you.
On top of this, we need to realize that not everybody is going to be like this. If you just keep your head high, keep a positive attitude, and learn how to not care what others think of you, then someday your real protectors from these monsters will be yourself.
Again, I really love your pictures, especially that last one with the quote about parents being the teachers. Anyway I really loved this blog post. I love the connection you made about seclusion equating to safety as a child and how that seemed to transfer to your grown up life. I had never thought about it that way before. It was very interesting and well written and seriously, those pictures are awesome!
Reply
Kathleen
3/1/2014 01:16:35 pm
Thanks so much! I really appreciate that you like my writing style and the pictures that I chose. (: