Two days back at the Vandalur Zoo, it was impossible to ignore one very cute kid who happily asked her mother for kaasu and happily slurped on ice cream. I suppose childhood is romanticized. And perhaps being a kid isn’t all that fascinating – while you are a kid. Things go wrong, teachers are horrible, your knees are forever scarred, bullies sit on you, people pull your hair. If you were like me, you are reminded of all the times that annoying cousin did better than you in studies. Or how the arrival of a younger sibling filled you with jealousy. Like becoming a misfit at 12, and finding oneself alone. But even all this is romanticized. While you’re living through it – it feels like the weight of a million bricks.
But guilt, when you’re about seven is fleeting. It doesn’t sink you inside its soft jaws and eat you up whole. Perhaps that’s one of the biggest differences. The one thing you cannot romanticize about as an adult is guilt.
Posted on September 10th, 2006 by Neha Viswanathan
Filed under: Rants and Rambles, Self
Hmmm. It’s in one’s rationale. I quite easily see through this romanticism, and that’s perhaps my biggest shortcoming.
And, I end up romanticising the pervasive blandness of my life. It at least seems to be more real, though it’s not. Damn logic.
“people pull your hair”, yeah right!
but as an adult, you can rationalize ‘guilt’. there is always a reason behind why we did what we did. and feel guilty later, because of our action or inaction. :)
it is important that we come to terms with our supposed causes of guilt, and purge them from ourselves; whether be it eating an ice cream, not living upto our parents’ expectations or simply ‘being’ ourselves. :)
not encouraging anyone to be narcisstic, but i feel that only we know what we feel and what we can accomplish. the biggest source of guilt is our relatives, whose expectations are self centred and unrealistic. :(
these are the biggest guilt dumpers. :(
i disagree with the part “that the biggest source of guilt is our relatives, whose expectations are self centred and unrealistic”.
i honestly think that the biggest source of guilt is within us… we feel insecure many a time and it leads to paranoia… within the two guilt forms.. or sprouts roots…fear is another addon to the whole mix…we produce our own guilt.. its so easy to blame someone or something…. helps the guilt to go away.. a sorta’ short-term escape route.. but it keeps haunting us…we create guilt… and we can also do away with it!
i’ve felt guilty many times.. more along the lines of looking back or looking at something external and then going the stretch of doing the comparison game, i’ve said hello many times to negaitivity keep waving it good bye still…. there’s another take on guilt.. we enjoy being guilty indirectly. sub consiously… feels good indirectly to moan about ourselves..our emotions getting all touchy touchy with our soul… and self..because we feel guilty…
…
but this is just some of us or me.. maybe.. we’re all different…but i believe that just like society gives birth to criminals, we give birth to guilt from within…
Don’t have to agree with me… afterall we agree to disagree :)
cute kid btw!
Understand, perhaps. It’s too late for romanticism about certain things.
one feels guilt as a child or as an adult- it’s jaws are indiscriminate. however, feeling guilt at all depends on your mental constitution, the set of morals and values you live by as well as the ideals you measure yourself against. hmm,
i agree about not romanticising guilt; however, why would you want to romanticise a feeling of guilt?
Argh. I want ice-cream.
bullies sit on you
Aaargh! I have always been one of the bullies, once in college lots of friends told me how they hated me and the big gang of bullies I was in.
Now,I am feeling guilty :)
The snap is really cute.
too much murakami makes you a guilty adult?
Oh, the snap’s really cute. :)
Zero: romanticising the pervasive blandness of my life Oh, I so know that feeling!
Anand: Odi po.
phantom363: I guess there really is no final prescription. Sometimes guilt makes for shaky but adequate foundation.
iangela: I tend to agree. Others can taunt, but guilt is entirely inborn. An assumption of “difference” really.
Vi: :)
Rohit: Romanticizing something makes it so much more easier to live with. You can put it up on your shelf with pride and have people “oooh” at it.
megha: Flavour?
Kusum Rohra: Aaarrghh! You’re one of them then!
Monica: Sigh! True. I need to pick up some other genre now.
Swapna: I agree!
:( oh but I am not that bad, seriously! :D