The Innocence in Trust | Teen Ink

The Innocence in Trust

November 23, 2010
By OfficialApprover PLATINUM, Orefield, Pennsylvania
OfficialApprover PLATINUM, Orefield, Pennsylvania
48 articles 0 photos 1752 comments

Favorite Quote:
Grab life by the balls. -Slobberknocker
We cannot change the cards we're dealt just how we play the hand
Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted
It's pretty easy to be smart when you're parroting smart people
-Randy Pausch


Call children sociopaths all you want, they still won’t cease to amaze me.

Psychologists say that children are, in essence, sociopaths. They don’t have a fully developed sense of right and wrong. They don’t have what our religions, or our parents, or our society define as ‘morals’, per se, because they have no idea what the heck that word means.

But there’s something that they have in abundance, something that we could all try to emulate.

Children have trust.

When I spot a child on the bars, or guide them along the beam, hold them on the rope, help them out of the pit, they trust me. They aren’t thinking “Oh dear, I hope she doesn’t drop me. She’s going to drop me.” No, they think more along the lines of “She’s got me. I’m safe. I can do this.” And they say that. Aside from morals, children haven’t acquired that sense of humiliation, or that vital connection between the brain and the mouth, instructing them what to say and what not to say. It’s in their mind, it’s out their mouth.

They’re honest.

I’ll be guiding them along the course, and they rush up the mine wedge and reach their hand out for mine. They don’t worry that I won’t want to hold their hand. They don’t worry that they’re going to fall, that they’re going to hurt themselves. They grin, they stretch out their hand, and together, we run.

It’s claimed that there is no such thing as true altruism. In this case, I’m not helping the kids simply because it’s a good thing to do. Perhaps I’m helping them, lifting them, guiding them, saving them, just for the reward of those huge, beaming eyes, the delighted grin, the high-pitched giggling and the soft, trusting touch of their hand in mine.

When I tutor a kid near my age, at the end of the lesson, I’ll receive an awkward mumble, and an embarrassed kid high-tailing it from the room. When I coach a child, I’m gifted with an ecstatic hug and many “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”s.

Children may not have morals, but somehow they’re able to make me feel far more pleased, far more content, than the so-called “ethical” adults. They’re too innocent to entertain doubts. They’re too young to define good and bad.

The adults revel in their superiority, their superior ethics, their superior minds, their superior bodies.

They look down upon the children for lacking these. But maybe they should take a moment, just a moment, to stop and think. A moment to watch a child, and to appreciate the joyous energy and untainted innocence of the youthful.

Maybe they’ll even learn a lesson or two on the way.


The author's comments:
I love children:)

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This article has 6 comments.


on Sep. 1 2011 at 11:20 pm
OfficialApprover PLATINUM, Orefield, Pennsylvania
48 articles 0 photos 1752 comments

Favorite Quote:
Grab life by the balls. -Slobberknocker
We cannot change the cards we're dealt just how we play the hand
Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted
It's pretty easy to be smart when you're parroting smart people
-Randy Pausch

Thanks. :D

on Apr. 8 2011 at 8:34 pm
hopelesssharpie BRONZE, Srghsfgjd, Virginia
4 articles 0 photos 107 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction must make sense." -Mark Twain.
"I'm not crazy, my reality is simply different than yours."
"I'd rather be hated for who I am than be loved for who I'm not."

I love it:) Amazing, and so true. I love children:) Amazing job Lexie. 

on Feb. 2 2011 at 7:31 pm
OfficialApprover PLATINUM, Orefield, Pennsylvania
48 articles 0 photos 1752 comments

Favorite Quote:
Grab life by the balls. -Slobberknocker
We cannot change the cards we're dealt just how we play the hand
Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted
It's pretty easy to be smart when you're parroting smart people
-Randy Pausch

I completely agree. Children will walk up to me and say 'You're beautiful' or 'I love you' and mean it, and not be embarrassed. It's adorable. =)

LastChapter said...
on Feb. 2 2011 at 3:20 pm
LastChapter, Hempstead, New York
0 articles 0 photos 215 comments

Favorite Quote:
(couldn't think of anything better at the time) "Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."-Dr.Martin Luther King Jr.

they can also be the kindest, most selfless people. and you know what they say is how they really feel because they don't sensor their words. some of the nicest things people have said to me came from kids under the age of eight. they don't know or care if its rude or blunt or improper. they just say it. i sometimes wish everyone could be like that.

on Feb. 1 2011 at 7:22 pm
OfficialApprover PLATINUM, Orefield, Pennsylvania
48 articles 0 photos 1752 comments

Favorite Quote:
Grab life by the balls. -Slobberknocker
We cannot change the cards we're dealt just how we play the hand
Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted
It's pretty easy to be smart when you're parroting smart people
-Randy Pausch

=D Yes, children have a tendency to be blunt.

LastChapter said...
on Feb. 1 2011 at 7:09 pm
LastChapter, Hempstead, New York
0 articles 0 photos 215 comments

Favorite Quote:
(couldn't think of anything better at the time) "Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."-Dr.Martin Luther King Jr.

so true, so great. favorite line: "It’s in their mind, it’s out their mouth."