"It seems as if in the process of growing up we lose the ability to wonder about the world."
My interpretation from this quote is that as human beings gradually mature and encounters new experiences, our inquisitiveness ceases along with it. We begin to take everything for granted, and become numb to our environs.
Undoubtedly, as we grow older, we start to get used to our surroundings and what is classified as the ‘social norm’ – and thus form a ‘habit’. On trains, we no longer stand on our seats and peer around excitedly, enraptured by every tree and flower that speeds past us. We no longer tug on our parents’ shirt, asking what this and that is for each and everything.
Despite saying this, I do not agree with this quote. I believe that no matter how much, we possess at least a tint of wonder in our hearts. More important things just take precedence. When stepping into Venice, we still marvel about the breath-taking structures. It is working hard to survive and to gain this trip to Venice that makes us swivel our focus from gawking at everything in the world to the turbulences in life.
On page 17, an incident is presented with the father of the family suddenly flying, with the child entranced at this phenomenon and the mother immensely shocked, perhaps requiring medication afterwards. In this case, unlike her son, the mother has just prioritized her husband’s abnormal state and wondered about this, instead of being astonished by his newfound flying ability.
In life, most adults stop watching cartoons and admiring the new tricks the protagonist brings up to the screen. Is this because cartoons are only designed for children? No. The grown-ups are just too occupied with work, or perhaps applied their ‘faculty of wonder’ to other aspects, like discovering new ways to earn more money, for the comfort of themselves and their family. Akin to children, adults stand on the ‘tip of rabbit’s fur’ too, simply focusing on a different way.
Thus, to conclude, I believe that curiosity cannot be lost, as it is innate. We simply redirect our wonder to different directions.
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3 comments:
I agree with your point of view, where as you grow older, your curiousity is redirected and the fact that you have grown to be adapted to your surrondings and thus forming a habit.
I completely agree with what you have written above. As we grow older we do not lose our ability to wonder but we wonder differently as children would wonder excitedly and adults more subtly and deeply like the incident on page 19. I also agree with benita that curiosity is redirected to habit becuase as you grow older you just you get used to your surroundings and so things do not get you to wonder though when entering a new place you still do wonder and so as you grow older you keep wondering about the world.
If our curiosity is redirected, does that mean we still wonder? Or do we merely think in a different perspective?
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