Ah, pretending. Children play pretend and know that they are doing it. Adults play pretend too, but we seem to have forgotten we're doing it. You know, the pretend game that a broken cookie has no calories, or the pretend game that the worthless boyfriend (or girlfriend) will change, or the pretend game that the government won't catch us on tax evasion.
Fortunately for everyone, this book is about when children pretend! There are several good quotes in here. Like "We all know ... that bears do not come out to eat little children who step on the cracks in the sidewalk; so it's fun to read about them." OK, first of all, I didn't know the "bears come out and eat children who step on cracks" game. But I really don't think it sounds like "fun." Then later she points out that if you pretend that your pretendings are true, that while "Mother doesn't know it's a lie, God knows." Good point, but wow, in today's world it sounds a little creepy - a little bit like God is Big Brother and Santa Claus rolled into one. And finally, there's the potent warning: "It is also wrong ... when you pretend so much that you are unhappy when you are just yourself." I think she's actually drifting a little bit into adult pretending here. Most kids are happy being themselves, regardless of pretending. It's when we adults pretend to be something we're not for years and years that we drift into this dangerous state.
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3 comments:
Anyone knows it's not bears that eat children. It's really that "when you step on a crack you break your mother's back." Compulsive people (remember the Jack Nicholson movie?) never step on cracks.
I don't either.
What if you have to step on the same number of cracks with both feet? And the crack has to hit the same spot on each foot, every time. Is that compulsive?
Let us consider the difference between simple superstition and obsessive/compulsive behavior to answer your question!
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