“And because there is something they can’t see people think it has to be special, because people always think there is something special about what they can’t see, like the dark side of the moon, or the other side of a black hole, or in the dark when they wake up at night and they’re scared.”
— Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

it's funny how we desire to grow up when we were kids,
then desire to remain young as we grow up.

as a kid,we were only allowed to use pencils in school for our school work,
given our susceptibility to many many mistakes,using a pencil allowed us to correct our errors with the simplest possible manner -- the eraser.
as we grew older,using a pen was what we eagerly looked forward to.
to us then,it was a sign of maturity,a sign of independance.
during the transition period i still remember vividly that the opportunity to use pen was only given to those who had neat hand writings,
apparently neat handwritings then were a sign of readiness,
readiness to use a pen..
and that itself was a joy, a celebration that marks the process of growing up.

being a child gave us the ability to make as many mistakes as we could,
and no matter how dire the mistakes were,
they were always forgiven,they were always taken lightly,
yes we get punished,but the consequences were always minor,probably a scolding or a smack on our hands.
just like using the pencil,
we were expected to make mistakes,to learn from it,and then simply just correct it with an eraser.
however,as we move on with our lives,
more responsibilities and trust are given to us,
protection becomes limited as we are given the liberty to make our own choices in life.
we are expected to make the right decisions,the wise decisions,to bear our own consequences as a grown up would.
like a pen,everything we do,every mistake we make,every victory we arise with,is written down in ink and can never really be removed.
just like promises,we can use a corrector to wipe away whatever we want to conceal,but it still leaves a mark behind doesn't it?
we can't just undo what was done.

growing up,i never liked using the pen.
Besides the mess it made as well as how horrid the mistake looks,using the pencil gave me the liberty to change my plans,to adjust what i wrote according to the situation without leaving a mark behind.
it prepared me for the unknown.
it's always better to have the allowance to change the situation to your favour than to try to wipe out your mistakes,facing the probability of making it worse than it already is.

funny how eager we are to use the pen when we were young,
then prefer to use the pencil when we are old.
sounds vaguely familiar,doesn't it?
♥ 2:32 PM