Changing Priorities

I have a box of treasures that I keep hidden under my bed. The other day I pulled out this box and remembered a childhood I had left behind long, long ago. In this box I found an essay I had written when I was ten years old. The topic of the essay was 'How I want the world to be' and my English teacher had given me three stars and an 'Excellent' for it. Now, close to two decades later, I can't even remember a time when life was so simple and desires so innocent. Yes, I have grown up but have I lost some piece of my self along the way? Am I jaded? Is there a way back to the ecstasy of childhood abandon? Here's the essay exactly the way it was written all those years ago:

The world I would love will have to be full of peace and love. People should live and let live, and never discriminate between themselves. This would be the ideal world for me. There should be no wars and people should be able to tolerate each other. There should be religious tolerance and no fights over land. The wold should be such that policemen, lawyers and judges should all be out of work! All of us should be understanding and not cheat each other. But apart from all these, there could be a few more changes in the world.

As a child I would love for the clouds of the world to be made of candy floss; the sea should be made of Pepsi; the barks of the tree should be made of rich, dark chocolate and the leaves of these trees should be made of candy. I would also want there to be a lot of trees around everywhere so that I can climb on them and play.I want the world to be full of fun and humor. the words hate, way, discrimination and killing should be erased from the memory and minds of people. They should even disappear from the dictionary.

Then the world would be full of love and harmony. Instead of horrible words like hate etc., love, peace, caring, understanding and harmony should be put into the minds of people. This is my dream of how I want the world to be and I hope that someday, if not all of it, at least half my dream should come true.

That was the essay - a child's dream for the future. Nope, none of that has come true. The adult in me had replaced the child's innocent fantasy. What's worse is that the rate at which our world is progressing, I'm fairly certain these will just remain unfulfilled dreams. But the clouds of candy floss, ocean of Pepsi and trees of candy and chocolate... hmmm, I think I'll hold on to that dream!