“You can understand and relate to most people better if you look at them – no matter how old or impressive they may be – as if they are children. For most of us never really grow up or mature all that much – we simply grow taller. Oh, to be sure, we laugh less and play less and wear uncomfortable disguises like adults, but beneath the costume is the child we always are, whose needs are simple, whose daily life is still best described by fairy tales.”– Leo Rosten
When you find it hard to forgive, remember that deep down, everyone is a child. We all have big dreams and fears buried beneath our veneers of self-confidence and competency. We all wonder sometimes if we’re really lovable, if we’re really up to the challenge of making it in the world. We all long for a mother to make everything better, to find the infallible parents we lost in adolescence, the ones who knew all the answers and could handle anything that came up. When we fail to live by our own wisdom, when we react emotionally to situations, we are living from our inner children. It only makes sense then, that when others fail to act wisely, we view them as feeling as lost or helpless as a child.