tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21152738.post6191878498699342872..comments2024-03-27T07:37:25.421-04:00Comments on Excelsior: A lost Las Vegas of the mindBevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05412883073330413390noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21152738.post-10613360301861151732014-09-30T20:27:54.864-04:002014-09-30T20:27:54.864-04:00Freedom, kindness, power, and the freedom to use t...Freedom, kindness, power, and the freedom to use the power of adulthood to associate with kind people--this is what is so great about growing up. Bevhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05412883073330413390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21152738.post-12745698179383304612014-09-30T15:58:04.336-04:002014-09-30T15:58:04.336-04:00I think I, too, had a mostly-happier childhood (th...I think I, too, had a mostly-happier childhood (though also one with at least one event that would be recognized as truly awful -- a parent's death -- and some other, different, less-difficult ones), but I have no desire to go back. It's the sense of helplessness/powerlessness that is hardest, I think; for all that I'm responsible for the mortgage, taxes, et al., I'm also in a position to change many things that truly distress me (especially the sort of day-to-day repeated ones that can really wear on a person, and that children often have to endure without being able to change). <br /><br />I would have felt the same way when I was in college (I loved the freedom of college, and of getting my drivers' license at 16, even though I hadn't felt terribly constrained before that). <br /><br />I also suspect I might feel differently if I were an adult with fewer options (though I sometimes feel constrained, I actually have quite a few). Contingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21152738.post-77278822551353815672014-09-30T14:24:40.068-04:002014-09-30T14:24:40.068-04:00Some of these sound familiar, all too familiar, bu...Some of these sound familiar, all too familiar, but others, I'm glad to say, weren't my experience.<br /><br />Nonetheless, just being an adult seems to give me many degrees of freedom: from worrying about what everyone thinks, being bossed around, and having to do stuff that adults insist is vitally important but which I've long ago learned isn't important.<br /><br />Being kind is important. Being respectful and decent and caring. Those are important.<br /><br />Wearing this or that dress, not important. And so on.<br /><br />I hope that as an adult, you experience a lot more kindness, and share it, too.Bardiachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11846065504793800266noreply@blogger.com