Not that i think you harmless Wendy (i do know you to be quite fierce), but pirates can be awfully tricky—crafty—and now that i must be away from you for so long each day i take concern over you. So be cautious. Be alert. As always though, be adventurous; there are so many corners of the Neverland that even i have yet to find!
You know the other day we had gone with our crew of two lost boys and one, very rare, lost girl to the Sciencenter? Well our little lost girl Auburn taught me quite a striking lesson as we carried on in the live animal room (imagine if we walked in once and all of the animals had been loosed from their confinements: cockroaches, snakes, frogs, geckos, and more all slithering/crawling/leaping about :-0 ). The lesson came as you were hoisting her up to see the turtles (she is still a little short for solo viewing).
They were painted turtles and you will, i hope, remember that there was one turtle who jostled to and fro with such energy that he truly seemed frantic to be out of his confinement. i imagine that, perhaps, he could see his stickier frog and gecko neighbors climbing the walls of their confinements and was seeking, himself, to do likewise. i almost felt to cheer him on as we watched—sorry, tangent: course correcting—
So here was this odd little turtle—quite a spectacle, really—and, as you held Auburn up to see, she didn't. Though she was now eye level with the turtle she coukd spare him none of her attention. She looked at everything but the turtle: the floor, the walls, the ceiling, curtains, the confinements. How very odd, i thought. Auburn became, in the moment, more of a spectacle than the turtle.
How could she fail to see the turtle?
Why wasn't she taking interest in such zany aquatic behaviors?
Why was everything stationary of more interest to this little girl than the wonder of natural life?
In all candor, and with not a little embarrassment in the admission, my first conjecture was that finding wonder in things would be something Auburn would just have to be taught by you or i. For the very briefest of moments i thought that perhaps her little mind, little eyes, and little heart were just not ready to take in all of the Neverland. Then wisdom spoke, and wisdom told me that little Auburn was more native to Neverland than even i.
The lesson was this:
Little infants never fail to find wonder.
Little infants find wonder in everything.
It is adults who came up with the idea of ordinary. We, as we grow, lose an interest in little things. We call them routine and, disparagingly, ordinary.
What a rather ugly word is ordinary. Yet i have been using it for a lifetime.
i thought, with a rather great deal of arrogance, that i had quite keen eyes for wonder in the world. As i walked and explored i would congratulate myself on finding a new insect, or a new leaf, or a new path. i thought that mine was a mind in tune with the wonders of the world. What a pygmy i am, however, by comparison to this little girl. This little Auburn who understands that exploration involves more than wandering about to new locales. Our lost girl who knows that if we are still, the world will change about us; that wonders need not be sought out, for wonders are brought to our very doorstep at every moment.
No, she was not missing the turtle—i was missing everything else.
Thank her for me will you?
Oh! And Wendy i learned something so very important. i learned it only just yesterday and that puts it so very far down on my list of all i can tell you, but it has to be told today as the energy of it is so strong with me! i learned that, while there are so very many differences between a man and a boy, there need only be one real difference: charity.
The world will teach that a man is more sober than a boy. More serious.
A man is to be more powerful than a boy.
It is taught that men must put away imagination, carefree play, and craziness.
None of this is really necessary though, is it?
The real difference between a man and a boy is simply that a man is a boy who has learned to love and care for others.
Wouldn't you agree?
As i dance around in play with our little lost children and you, my fairest Wendy, i feel more right than in anything else.
The world doesn't need heroes. It doesn't need men of great power. All that the world needs is to have fun, with fair attention given to those in need.
i feel i gave up a lot of the boy in me over the past several years in an effort to be more of a 'man'. Do not worry though Wendy, for i remember exactly where i left each piece of my boyishness, and i am off to get it back!
.peter
Location:Neverland
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