When We Were/Are Twelve

“After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.”

Something emerges in the human being around the age of twelve. Yes, it can happen earlier or later, … that it happens is not to be doubted. Nor will this expression of the heart be the same – in detail – yet, for each individual biography, the source is identical.

The loss of innocence on the cusp of adolescence is very personal, and remains with us from that moment on: A surety of what is fair and right.

We know, without doubt.

The school of hard knocks and shared pain does not comply with that knowledge. Life is not fair. What is worse is that that which is right slides and swerves from actual situation to actual situation.

With help, we can sometimes keep that flame alive, although often under a basket woven of nerves and fears. To share our heart with others is the biggest cliff off of which we can leap. It is the cliff where we cannot see the bottom, … and must trust.

Trust what?

Emerson sez in self trust all virtues are comprehended. At the same time, are there not aspects of who we are – known to us – which are dangerous? Are we wrong to want another person to not exist? Obviously, if they are aiming a gun at our child, is not the right action stopping that?

Is a vaccination needle any different from a loaded pistol?