up up and away...

As another year is to be added to my age, well maybe just not another year, but a significant one (it seems.. though i'm trying to figure out what's the special part abt turning 21. at 13 there was entering a secondary school.. at 17 there was driving license \m/ !!!!!.. at 18 there was err no more restriction at the movies? o.O .. 20 got rid of the teen lable which brings us to 21).

That aside, you can't help but reminisce about the past or ponder upon the simplicity of life as a toddler as you go through the years in life. Life WAS simple back then but its not the simplicity or the lack or responsibilities that irk my thoughts. Its something else. Its the fearless-ness that was present when we were babies. Given that we wouldn't have had any sense of danger at the time its still quite a trait worth pondering on. Take for example, the mere act of learning to stand and walk on 2 feet. Babies would all go through the process of getting up and falling before being able to balance themselves properly. And you'd think that after falling down for the first time, the baby would be fearful of falling again and just give up. But no. The baby would still strive onwards, fearless in a way, to get him/herself walking on 2 feet. And in the end, the baby would be rewarded with a new way to travel :). Its so easy for them to just be curious about something, wanting something, and then going after it without hesitation. Fearless-ness. Another example would be one taken from my parents about my antics when i was lil. There was a time when my parents had visited and stayed with they're friends (a couple). They had this pet cat and their neighbours had a pet dog. It seems that during the stay, i'd be enjoying myself by pulling the tails of both the cat and dog..lol. The pets got so afraid of me that everytime i showed myself, they'd be running far far away in the other direction. (i'd like to see that scenario 1st hand tho.. haha). There was curiosity, followed by fearless-ness, me thinks. Though i am very grateful that my head wasn't chewed off or something as it was supposedly a big dog and grateful that i left unscathed from the the cat's claws as well =p. The point simply being that a baby would clearly know what it wants (food or smth that caught his/her curiosity) and be unafraid to go after it.. or in the case of food, yell for it.. haha.

What happened from that time to the present? How did we lose sight of what we want? and how did so much fear enter our lives, preventing us from getting what we want? Though i guess fear IS needed in away as a sort of safety mechanism much like our pain sensors to prevent us from doing dangerous and/or stupid things. But it shouldn't go up to the extent of preventing us from fully living our lives. Come to think of it.. the more responsibilities we get.. adds to the fear. Perhaps that's where courage came about. The ability to face difficulty and fear. Fear would be the box keeping us in, and courage would be the ability to break that box.

So is fear needed?is it there so that we may learn to be courageous?

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear. ~Ambrose Redmoon

Then perhaps fear would always be present. Acknowledging that fear would be a start and knowing that that fear should not stop you from living life the way you want it, should follow.