Excerpt: A Palpable Illusion

I long for the simple puzzles of a child.


At some point in a person's life, one relishes in the thought of being a child again. The sheer thought of ignorance to the outside world is not only tempting, but if the chance was given we'd surely take it. The simplistic life of a child was what some would call envious. Our loved ones carefully constructed our universe that was quite literally a glass house– with the smallest touch it could shatter without choice, matter, or clause. We knew nothing of the people outside our universe that withheld devious thoughts and asinine intentions. In fact, we didn't care. However, they knew of us.


As children, we partook in childlike tasks. Often questioning why the sky was blue, and why the grass was green. Parents provided their innocent children with simple answers, never fully explaining that the blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering and that the grass is green because plants contain a pigment known as chlorophyll. Kahlil Gibran said, "Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge." Yet that is exactly what our parents dreaded: knowledge. If ignorance to the world is innocence, then knowledge by definition destroys innocence. Therefore, if we questioned the very enticing world that surrounded us, we'd soon discover the horrific realities that wait at our doorstep.