Wednesday, August 02, 2006

A Wonderful Way to Start People

I was reading greeting cards this morning and came across this little nugget-
"Babies- What a wonderful way to start people!" No one thinks that the freaks they meet, the rude asses that yank their chains or the stinky weirdos encountered used to be these innocent little moldable dough balls of love.

But they were.

Coming into the world, babies are like astronaut explorers, free floating in the warm sea of the womb, tethered by the umbilical cord to their mother. How shocking it must be to be pushed with such force out into a harsh environment.

They squeeze, squeeze, squeeze their enormous bobble heads through the crotch in the tree of life and cry. Pulling a tshirt or turtleneck over their heads in later years is in some way like this primitive moment. It is a hateful reminder. They cry.

The gravity of the situation is immediately felt. Breathe! Slap. Maybe maternal instinct never kicked in. All of the things relied on are gone. The tight snuggly home is now across the hall in a football field sized bed.

What happens between then and now is everyone's personal mystery. The weirdos, the freaks, the asses weren't always so.


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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting thought. You never do think about the less-than-perfect people as being innocent little babies, but they were indeed. Just more pressure though when you realize that the way you raise your child makes all the difference in the world (Sigh...).

Anonymous said...

I agree with glamgranola that there is suddenly more pressure to do a good job...and I think it's pressure I wish a few more people felt. When we really stop and realize the things we say and do have consequences that go beyond our small lives, hopefully we temper our words and actions with some small amount of reason and kindness. One can hope, at least.