February 5, 2005
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Picture of the Day:
Life was so much easier back then......?
Where a kid can be a kid!
Over the years I've heard people say things like "I wish I were a kid again" or "Damn, it sucks getting older" because of the weight of reponsibility put on them. Things were in a sense "easier" when you were a little kid with your parents sheltering you from the world and taking care of you.
The thing is....was my lack of responsibility and knowledge of the world what made me happy? "Is ignorance really bliss?"
Don't get me wrong, if I could go back to playing with marbles in the sand, afternoon naps, play time, recess, & summer's devoted to playing at the park.....I probably would go back.......But for how long?
Knowing what I know today would make it difficult to go back to those simpler days. I've gained to much to just throw it all away.
For instance take The Simpsons. I've been a regular viewer of The Simpsons ever since it started off on the Tracy Ulman Show but I've found over the years that the show has a deeper levels than people realize.
As a kid I was able to appreciate the shows far-fetched storylines & silly antics but as I got older and more knowledgeable I realized the show has so much more to offer. It was filled with allusions to Pop Culture & Literature and complex storylines regarding the family dynamic & religion.
The show developed into a great show not because the show changed but because I did.
When I think about it now, I wouldn't trade all the marbles in the world for what I've gained up to this point.
Are you happier now than when you were as a kid?
Comments (40)
u see dumb people!?!? so r u calling me dumb *tears* tat hurted mai feelings...
lol well nice xanguh.... ^^ random props.. laterz
- mizz teenuh
I've thought a lot about this in the past as well. Was i better off and had a better life as a kid, or was I just more ignorant to the bad things? Maybe a little bit of both? Sometimes it may feel better to be ignorant of things, and to be ignorant means to be happy, but in many cases I think knowing is better even if it's painful.
I.E. if you're in a relationship with someone who is cheating on you, you would want to know even if you are happy with the person and knowing would only cause you pain... or would you? in my family, as long as you didn't see or hear about something happening, it didn't happened. my parents turned a blind eye to each other's shinanigans until it exploded when i was old enough to understand.
And then they weren't ignorant anymore. And neither was I.
Would I rather have been ignorant and happy? or knowing and sad? at the time that I first found out I probably would have told you that I rather had not learned any of these things.
But now, I realize that a part of growing up is learning sadness and through that sadness you appreciate happiness even more.
So in truth, I believe you don't know the height of happiness unless you've breached the depths of angst and despair... And though I have moments now that I am sadder, I do feel that I have a more heightened sense of happiness than I ever had as a kid.
haha your entry totally reflected mine. 'cept yours is .. 200 times better..
i don't think people were happier. they just had less to think about & didn't have to worry so much about other things
I think when people say they're happier as a kid, I believe they meant life was simply easier. In a chaotic world, with busy schedules and mounting responsibilities, we all sometimes wish things to be easier. But I think it's too simplistic equating "easy" to "happiness". Things are only easier if you have something more complicated to related it to. Yes, it would be nice to go back and be a kid again. But would life really be easier if you can't take your knowledge with you? Think back when you're a kid…remember all those kid problems you thought you had? Remember how you wish you could just grow up so you can take care of these problems? While we think kids have it easy, if you look at a kids life through their eyes, you'd see a completely different world. My point is, yes it would be nice to be a kid again…but only if I can take my knowledge with me.
being a kid and being an adult are like comparing black and white. Children have some ups and downs for being one. While being an adult has it's pros and cons. I.E. Can't drive, secksss, alcohol, and other things children yearn to do when they're older.
I guess I'd have to reach a certain age (maybe 50?) to be able to fully compare the two different stages of life.
props =]
no not happier lols more miserable.. stoopid teenage years. the insecurity lols.
Happy New Year.......
random props.
i was happy then, and i'm happy now. it's just a different kind of happiness.
Ignorance may be bliss, but how would you ever know?
Lan. Yeah, I wouldn't have ever pronounced it "Lawn." Maybe "yard" or "grassland" though
i fixed it!!! check out my xangaaaaa!! the simpsons were the shit! i like to watch pokemon
Being a kid and an adult has both pros and cons....sometimes it'd be great to be a kid and other times it's freaking awesome to have all the freedom and choice of an adult.
hell yeah!
i miss being a kid!!! but i know there's still a kid in me right now!!
Ooo i have same picture when i was young in a plane too!! 
haha
I, too, miss being a kid at times but at the same time, I wonder as you do about how long I would want to remain being a kid knowing what I know now. Do we long to be a kid again because we tire of the present and are afraid of the future? Or do we long to be a kid again solely for the sake of nostalgia?
I just want to be a kid again because the cartoons were so much cooler back then. HAHAHA.
Props for the Lan... err... grass... err yard... err whatever you want to be called.
Yeah, she did an awsome job.
Nice banner by the way. =)
thanks for your comment--your site is hot as well! :thumbsup:
I think it's all in retrospect of how we see things and what we make of it. It depends on how you grew up. Some kids may have felt left out and isolated from others or perhaps they were the ones that got picked on. Some of my friends were like that and are much happier now that they don't have school and actually look forward to the responsibility that adults have. Sure it'd be great to play ball, video games, and nap all the time, but then there's a lot of things we'd be missing out on growing up. Of course everything has pros and cons with it but if I had to have a choice, I'd pick living it up right now. The journey and adventure right now, seeing what's next, is the most exciting part. Just my two cents.
Anyhoo, great page you got.
as long as i dont have to be 10-14. Those were my days of being a fat little bubble of antisocialism. :pooh:
i think that eight year old happy is different than grown up happy. as a kid you're the care free. no worries = happy. but when you get older you're more the appreciative happy. at least that's what i think.
i am more happy now that i don't pee in the bed anymore... last year was killer
Ahh yes.. the simpsons. a classic. the best classic. :smile:
Being a Kid. I'd say its the best. But if I were to comare my life now to my childhood.. it would be totally different. I was happy then.. and I'm happy now, but they're two different things if you saw it through my eyes. Feel free to ask. Its a long story.
i've only been to chuck-e-cheese's once...and that was when i was in my late teens. damn you, i'm jealous!
the art form that I'm trying to do is music ^_^ props back ^_^
Childhood was a great time. Now is a great time, just because as we grow older we encounter new adventures, and thats just the beauty of it all. When people say they wish they were kids again, it's more about the fear of adult responsibility, I know thats how I think sometimes. But we have more things to look forward to, like our careers and future families. It may not be the joy we had as a kid, but I know it will make us just as happy.
And just because we're not kids doesnt mean we can't bring some of our childhood into our adulthood. I still play ring around the rosie, and thumb wrestling, and watch saturday morning cartoons. Some things never change.
Thanks hun.... :wub: :throb:
ofcourse i was happier when i was a kid. no worries, no stress, just power rangers and jello. that was my life back then. everything was so simple.
Every yr flies by so quick that sometimes you dont have time to take it in and see where your headin, how your heading and whats made you happy...thigns have just drifted so fast and you come to reliase this a u age....its a scary thought.
i dont know whether im happy now as how i was happy as a kid....your happy in each moment you live every yr...and every yr is different. i guess gettin older you reliase so many thigns then you wen you were a kid....you change as the yrs go...i think personally for me, i still cant accept taht ill be 21 soon...its jsut a scary thoguht gettign older...=)
cute picture when you were young!!
thanx for tha props...herre are summ for yooh. yeah...lol...i got hacked by mah boifreind. but n e waiz...kool syte...add meh if u want...hollah baQ...
~shelly
random cool xanga
Its always like that. as a kid u wanna grow up and be an adult and now that u are u miss the old dayz. sigh ~
Cute photo tho. lol.
xoxo
i kinda enjoyed those years of ignorance and asking lots of stupid questions without getting weird looks back at you. :dribble: But i agree, being able to do that for a while would be cool, but it would just get very boring. After learning a lot, it would be hard to go back to just doing all that kid stuff...
..and could you image the look of a parent with their child seeing a twenty-something year old playing in the sand box? :blink:
amd yeah, i agree with you about the simpsons as well.. when I was younger i used to enjoy it because of it's sheer entertainment value. Now i know better, though i didn't really realize it by myself as you did.. I had taken a TV analysis class, and it was after that when i realized the complex storylines and the underlying cultural and societal issues that the simpsons brings to light.
i still act like a kid sometimes [all the time =X] so i guess i'm happier now.. xD
of COURSE i was happier as a kid. who wasn't? no worrying about finals or adding a class, no worrying about paying bills...damn...it sucks to be older.
but the simpsons. there really is so much more than people think. a lot of the times it relates to everyday life, politics, relationships, something everyone could relate to...and that's why i LOVE it..they make somethin so serious about the world into a fun story..now THATS worth appreciating..plus it makes milk come outta my nose when i laugh so hard..
idunno about you, but i still go to chuckecheese. hahaha :laugh:
i;m definitely happier now than when i was a kid. sure, i wasn't aware of the problems that ail my life and the world back in the day, and so there were fewer worries, but i also didn't have the power to make decisions that directly affect my fate the way i do today. and the only way i can make those choices soundly, is to have all of the information. so i'd say, for many things, ignorance is bliss. but i believe that i'm a happier person as an adult without it.
ryc: i'm going to watch chicago next week! now you got me all excited!
thats deep.
and yes, simpsons is GREAT and has been the longest running television show because of its many degrees of humor (same goes with Sherek). nonetheless, to answer your question, yes, i would say i am happier and more satisfied now than i was a kid. sure, watching Nickelodeon and playing with naked barbie dolls was fun, but it doesnt nearly compare (like you stated) the abundance of knowledge ive gain up till now. i do believe knowledge is power; hence, its not only what you know, but how you apply it. i think the single great joy, as an adult, is having the ability to REALLY make a difference in SOMEONE's life, in our SCHOOL(s), in our COMMUNITY, in our WORLD, by giving in our lifetime.
"Happiness comes from spiritual wealth, not material wealth. Happiness comes from giving, not getting. If we try hard to bring happiness to others, we cannot stop it from coming to us also. To get joy, we must give it, and to keep joy, we must scatter it..."
~ John Templeton
Still there and lovin' it. :p
Hell yeah. Of course, when it is expected of me, I can be most mature and adult like... but since I only have one life, I might as well have fun during it.
And you KNOW kids have the most fun. :p (Some are so easily amused-- like me!
) 
i was happier with my family's relationship when i was younger...which made life complete when i was younger...
why does it really matter if i was happier back then or not? i mean i can't change the past, but i can change the present and the future, so i would have to say i am happier now. like the pic...Chuck E. Cheese is the shit!
i love love LOVE LOVE LOVEEEEEEEEE reading your blogs, like i said over and over again eh hem you have A.D.D. lan?? hahah jk you said something like that in one of your earliest blogs..but anyhow i can totally connect you on this one, it really opened up my eyes about how everyone keeps reitterating their childhoood and how everyone goes back but than they dont really come ALSO to realize is that ignorance is bliss up to one point and like they say a lack of ignorance pays a consequence thereof...but up to all the knowledge and memories that we've gained this far and meeting you Lan, you are truly one of the greatest friends i have and that for one is one of the things i will never trade or give up all the "marbles" i have in the world!! oh and i like the simpsons analyzation! good blog lan!!!
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