Innocence comes in waves. We are born at the crest of one of those waves, high above the roiling seas of experience, and we descend with slow surety into the first trough, buffeted by the winds of our environments, our parentage, our socioeconomic status. People talk all the time about innocence lost, but what about innocence regained? Is it possible to steer our little boats back up the walls that roar all around us, to pilot ourselves once more from the depths of those waters to regain their heights?
Love is a good example of this, for even the heart that has never known it can soar when touched for the first time. Mutual adoration can propel us upward for miles to reach places that transcend even the lofty altitudes of our births. “To feel young again.” “To feel new.” These expressions from those of us lucky enough to find true love are more than just platitudes; they are true sensations based on the rising and falling of our passage through life’s innocence.
These waves are fractal and possess the quality of “waves within waves”. Love represents the largest form of these, then along the edges of those rising peaks there are myriad smaller valleys into which we throw ourselves. New experiences such as schooling, careers, and feats of strength all lie along these smaller courses. More than a reciprocating heart can renew us.
To claim “innocence lost” is a mistake, and in order to maintain a positive and productive outlook it is better to see “loss” as a mere slipping down the slope of one side of a multitude of rises, and that if we so wish we can climb once more, as innocence abounds.
First draft: 150129
Published: 230826