Frankly I've never bought into this "child's sense of wonder" stuff. As you note, practically everything is new and strange to children, and so they accept this state of affairs as being normal. They tend to be far less surprised by genuinely surprising events than do adults. An grownup would be terrified if the proverbial pink elephant suddenly appeared before him; a child would probably take it in stride, unless the beast behaved threateningly.
Can I "think back to the time when I thought anything could be accomplished and the only limitations on my person were those set by my own mind"? Certainly. I was a teenager. Teenagers think they're unappreciated geniuses capable of anything (if only their parents wouldn't interfere), and practically immortal. This, in fact, is why most people read Ayn Rand at that age.
"Can I reconstruct the arrival of the cold, creeping fog of the irrational, moving inexorably toward me like a wraith that ever so slowly invaded my mind"? 'Fraid not. I can remember growing up, though, and realizing that not everyone shared my exalted view of myself, and that not everything was gonna work out the way I wanted it to. This state is anything but irrational: it's adulthood.
My, my, though, Terry. We're getting pretty mystical with all this fog stuff. Wraiths and shapeless masses and vampires and all! Whatever would Ayn think! |
