Anam Cara

The Belonging of Childhood

Innocence is precious and powerful. It is expected and acknowledged as a natural fact that a child is innocent. Yet innocence is more sophisticated than mere ignorance, lack of knowledge, or lack of experience. It is not accidental that the manner of our arrival in the universe is shrouded in innocence. This first innocence protects us from knowing the sinister negativity of life. It also immunizes us against recognition of how strange it is to be here, thrown into a world which is crowded with infinities of space, time, matter, and difference. It should be frightening to be a child in such a vast and unpredictable universe, but the little child never notices the danger directly. Innocence is a state of unknowing and the readiness to know. The wisdom of the human mind, especially in the child, ensures that knowing the world happens in stages. The innocence of childhood never breaks completely in one vast bright or dark epiphany. It only gives way gradually to new recognitions and experiences. Even when severe trauma occurs, it is somehow integrated; though it does deep damage, it still rarely extinguishes the flame of innocence. There is a poignant sense in which the child must keep its innocence alive in order to continue to grow and not allow the darkness to swamp its little mind. Innocence minds us. It only lets us become aware of what we are able to handle. Innocence permits the child to belong in the world. This is the secret of the child’s trust; it assumes that belonging is natural and sheltering. Experiments have shown that young children who have been thoroughly cautioned against the danger of strangers can still be coaxed and will walk off with a stranger in a public place while the parent is momentarily occupied. The innocence of childhood renews that of the parents and quickens their instinct to preserve it.