Childlike Curiosity and Consuming Collections

Hello, everyone! Yesterday I left off my ‘B’ entry after talking about books. That topic leads me to my first topic of the ‘C’ entry: Children

Children

Children – which feels slightly strange to type, since I fully confess that I say kids more often, and I’m not taking about baby goats (though internet videos about baby goats jumping off of each other do amuse my ‘aw’ cells). Books lead me to children simply because my job is basically to get children excited about books, about reading, and about exploring new topics and ideas. My job, in the simplest and probably least eloquent terms, rocks. The children at my school do, too. I don’t have any children ‘of my own’ – as many people choose to put it. I am not a mom, and have no plans to become one, unless I adopt more dogs. I like children, and am a proud aunt many times over, but I know I’m not meant to have my own. This is one thing that I wish people would at least accept about me and so many other people. Some of us are not meant to have children, and some don’t want to have them. This does NOT mean that we don’t like children, or that we will change our minds once we meet ‘the right person’ – the right person will understand, agree with us, and support our choices. I love being around children – of all ages – as they have so much innocent Curiosity.

Childlike Curiosity

The desire to know more, to learn more, to experience more – this is a wonderful thing! I know that some forms of this sense of active wonder can be potentially dangerous, but every day I see so many young minds light up due to a spark of Curiosity that helps their worlds grow exponentially as they learn about themselves, others, and the world (and universe) around them. When I have a student come up to me and tell me something that they have learned or are excited about, or want to know more about, I fill with happiness. When that student asks what books we have in the library to help him or her learn about that topic, or where they can find the information online or in an encyclopedia, the happy feeling bubbies…and then, a Curious classmate asks what they are reading or talking about. Then, the Chain of Curiosity adds a new link, and can only grow and branch out from there. I wish that more adults would remember what it was like to have that desire to learn and grow, and that more of us would return to the innocence of Curiosity – I think we would make amazing leaps and bounds in so many areas of Life! The innocent version of Curiosity – Childlike Curiosity – encompasses that innocence that can lead to so many amazing results!  I don’t mean childish, but childlike – full of wonder, joy, and excitement with every new discovery, collecting knowledge and experiences and absorbing them like parched sponges.

Collections/Collecting

We are all Collectors. We collect experiences throughout our lives. At times, we collect items with those experiences – as a result of the experience, or to help us remember the experience and what we learned from it. Collections can be passed down through generations of a family – stories, figurines, handmade quilts – or collections of an individual’s experiences can be immortalized in a diary or journal, in a biography (or autobiography – though I am of the camp that wonders why we are telling the life stories of cars). These experience Collections can be shared while we are alive, via memoirs – or tabloid headlines, depending on the individual – and stories gathered by family members and shared to help know our family history. Sometimes we don’t know why we keep what we keep until someone passes on and we realize that, to us, that item or story represents that person and our relationship with him or her. Sometimes, our collections get out of control, and we end up with a mess – either in our homes or in our hearts – and we need to do something to regain control over our Consumption.

Consuming/Consumption

We are all Consumers. We consume resources – I don’t know about you, but I like the whole living thing, so I plan on maintaining my Consumption of air and resources enough to maintain my living status – but I do my best to not over Consume. Am I completely successful? Nope. I fully own that. I am, however, constantly working on it. I may not want to have my own children, but I want to support those here already as well as those to come – so I need to make sure my Consumption does not deplete or completely screw up their resources and planet. There’s a saying from somewhere completely intelligent (nope, no clue where) that we don’t inherit the world from our parents, but we borrow it from our children. Keeping that – and my more than 400 students per year - in mind, I try to consider what my actions, both individual and as a whole picture, do to work toward or against that loan. I happen to live in a state where recycling and green living are widely accepted, and being green is something of which we are pretty darn proud. I recycle, probably to ridiculous amounts at times; I reuse items as much as I can, though I try to not go completely overboard; I am constantly trying to reduce my carbon footprint and the amount of sheer…hm, C word…oh, sheer Crap that I have. I prefer memories to trinkets, pictures to stuff, live plants to cut flowers, and hugs and warm wishes – and maybe a night out with friends or family – over physical gifts. Do I appreciate the physical gifts that I receive? Absolutely! The fact that someone thinks of me, wants to celebrate something with me – that is the best gift to me.  Right now I am working on yet another purging of my material goods. I prefer the vibes that go with a clean and open place. Clearing out the items I have Consumed is not easy for me. I have ADHD – not an excuse, but definitely a factor in my life – and that condition contributes to my often having difficulty when I work to clear out the stuff that has become crap to me but may become a favored treasure to someone else. So, I find ways to help me cut the crap, maintain the treasures, and not lose my ever-loving-mind in the process. Except for my Books (reference to my B entry!). I have major difficulty giving those up, reading as much as I do. However, do I consider that a failing? Nope! I can collect – I just work to do my best to keep it under control (and as a librarian, I also have the tendency to keep it pretty organized – BONUS!). I know that as a society and as a human race we can do the same with our lives – control the crap, keep the childlike curiosity, and in the end, have taken the world left to us by preceding generations and turn it into something tremendous for those who will follow after.

So, Come on! Let’s Create Beauty!

Thanks for joining me for my 3^rd A-to-Z entry, that of the Cool letter C! I hope to see you back here tomorrow, wherever my mind decides to meander for the letter D!

JBB