My childhood highlighted Easter. Not as ecstatic as Christmas, but carrying its own mixture of excitement, Easter differed from Christmas, much like death opposes birth, accentuating two poles of a man’s existence. Indeed, all the candy and gifts were affected by those Bible stories, most importantly, the one of cruel death. Memories include the emotions and guilt which filled my Childhood as I longed for release. Christmas gave a few days of solace, but Easter did not. The pre-Easter season of Lent featured the imposed fast– abstaining from certain pleasures. It was not yet a voluntary give-up for me. It lasted 40 days. Following that came the hideous picture of suffering death — we didn’t know how much blame we were supposed to assume, but we were told our sins were the reason for Jesus’ death. The Resurrection story did little to undo that mental pain — a basket full of…
Tag: <span>childhood</span>
Memory Lane? I remember childhood fantasies; summer days, exploration and discovery. Naivete, longevity, and levity accompanied almost every day. Ducks, dogs and dandelions littered the landscape; sea-cows, blue frogs and giant turtles stayed large in the memory — we visited the zoo! — then ice cream and better yet, lime sherbet on a cone –green. It all changed, though. What happened? Girls – well first, people, then girls. Fearful, unusual, intriguing, nice. These took over where craw-fish and snails left off. They caught the devotion, overwhelmed the young mind, and became an adolescent obsession. Some early “back and forth” went this way: “Hi — hi — whats up? — nothing — me too — well, see you — see you later.” I trick-or-treated till about 13 years; chocolate kept me young-minded till facial eruptions broke-out. I was so embarrassed. Here came the “real” world. Don’t get me wrong, all…