Remember innocence? Carefree, playful, exploratory, irresponsible, souls soft as the sea itself; but most of all guiltless; innocence has no sense of guilt. Oh sure, youthful play easily includes a poke a taunt, or worse, exclusion, but without guilt.

I remember asking my mother if I could go down the block to the Grace Evangelical Church one Sunday and she said “yes.” When I came back I showed her my handful of quarters, it could have been a buck and a half. “What!!??” I explained that they were passing them out in a little basket and I thought I had taken only my fair share. I was made to walk back and knock at the deacon’s door and to give back the quarters. I felt no guilt, only shame.

“Shame is an essential element in the civilizing process. It is the price we pay for our triumphs over our nature.” Neil Postman said this and I spend my life in denial.

The same Postman also said this, “The adult knows about certain facets of life—its

mysteries, its contradictions, its violence, its tragedies—that are not considered suitable

for children to know; that are, indeed, shameful to reveal to them indiscriminately.”

Adults do the grown-up things that put food on the table and babies in the bassinets; yes, we lose our innocence, and somehow watching the sea sprites frolic redeems a bit of

it.