Destructive Tendencies

Sometimes I wonder if you ever get to a point in your life where you're not surprised by anything at all. When some earth-shattering event occurs, do wise old people shrug their shoulders at the happening, as though it was expected?

I am continually amazed at humanity's capacity for self-destruction. Most recently I have had the opportunity to observe this in my daughter Zoe, who is now seven months old. She is crawling and pulling herself up on things, and getting into things.

Of course it's not things that are safe, oh no. Does she go for the cabinet with the pots and pans? No, the one with the dangerous cleaners, of course. Does she spend time playing with her own feet? Of course not - there are wires to put in her mouth, and electrical outlets to investigate. There are heavy books to pull off of the coffee table.

And oddly to me, one of the things that is the most innocuous actually terrifies her: the springy doorstops. I guess it's the noise they make. She also hates the noise of clanging pots and pans. And the vacuum cleaner.

Another thing that amazes me is how quickly she's learned what 'no' means. When we see her crawling towards something, we say 'no.' She stops, looks back, and you can almost hear the gears turning. Should I turn back? Or should I go onward. Sometimes she goes on, and then we have to pick her up and move her, and of course the waterworks start.

The sad thing is I had foreknowledge, having watched the children of friends and my own niece and nephew. So I don't know why I'm so surprised, other than the typical human response which says, "That won't happen to me."

Perhaps that's part of how wisdom develops - realizing it can happen to you.