Day 31: The difference between the man and the boy...

... Is the price of the toy.

When I was an English student, this was one of the first ‘sayings’ I learned, and it became one of my favorites because it states a big truth.

Bearing in mind the fits I’ve been throwing due to the fact I wasn’t able to get my Wii Console neither for Christmas nor Epiphany I started thinking about why we collect toys in the adulthood.

The first reason that comes to my mind is that, when I was I child, I only got toys during Winter Holidays and Birthdays. My family was not exactly poor, but we weren’t rich either. Therefore, the election of a toy was something that required a thoughtful consideration. I was able to receive most of the toys I asked Santa and the 3 Wise Kings for, but I still saw that some of my more fortunate cousins or neighbors got more toys or more expensive ones. Who happens to remember how that felt? Consequently, the ability to buy any toy I want nowadays not only represents a relief to my childhood traumas, but a vindication of my adult capacity to be independent and provide to myself.

My second reason is that I was never willing to give up my inner childhood. I still like to sing when I’m happy, make funny faces when I’m angry or hop around the office when I think no one’s looking. Some of my contemporaries consider this childish, of course, but I have never forgotten the feeling of awe and joy regarding the little matters of life. Up to the present day, opening a gift represents an enormous pleasure to me. Discovering how something works, either a computer program or a new toy, continuous to be a source of intellectual joy, very difficult to describe to people who have learnt the usual indifference of adulthood, when the only surprises left are the unpleasant ones. Even in grown-up classes, the value of intake through play has been reassessed as one of the most important learning tools; so, why not play with your toys?

On the other hand, I want to convince myself that my third reason is more adult (jajajaja). When I was a child, let’s be honest, I used to be a real monster. I was totally incapable of taking care of things. You can picture it easily. All my toys got really dirty and so did my books. Many of my toys got lost while moving in and out until my family bought a house of our own, and also many of them were discarded past their life time. (I did play with them, you see?) You can imagine how sad I have been because of that. So nowadays I’m giving myself another chance to be more careful with my toys. I keep them in their original boxes and all of them are as neatly organized as possible, to help them last.

In conclusion, I want to say we shouldn’t be embarrassed if we want to play. If we don’t make an effort to find the time for amusement in this horrible, competitive and merciless working world, we are very likely to lose our sanity as well as our good spirits. Would you like to come out and play?