The Child in Me
This weekend was spent with a group of schoolmates whose friendship stretches back nearly five decades. We come from different backgrounds, faiths, professions, and political viewpoints, yet we are connected by six formative years together from the 5th to the 10th standard.
What struck me was that our differences made very little difference to our relationships. It made me wonder why. Was it because we first met as children, before labels and loyalties became so important? Or was there something deeper?
Our country today often seems marked by divisions, with differences amplified and conflicts nurtured, sometimes for the sake of influence and power. If we had wanted to, our group too could have found enough reasons to disagree. After all, five decades have given us plenty of time to collect opinions, convictions, and a few stubborn certainties.
Yet that was not the point of our gathering.
There was an unspoken agreement to enjoy one another's company, laugh at old stories, revisit shared memories, and celebrate the fact that we had journeyed this far together.
Nobody felt obliged to defend a political position, settle a theological debate, or convince others that their view of the world was the correct one.
For a brief while, we were transported back to a simpler time, when life was less complicated and friendships were not filtered through ideology, identity, or social media algorithms.
We discovered that many of the things that dominate public conversations today matter far less when old friendships are sitting around the same table.
What made it work was simple: a willingness to listen, a non-judgmental spirit, genuine interest in one another, and the recognition that our common ground was far greater than our differences. Nobody was keeping score. It was enough simply to be present.
I sometimes wonder why leaders, and indeed all of us, cannot learn from our childhood selves. Back then, differences existed, but they did not define us. A classmate was first a friend and only later someone who happened to belong to a particular community, religion, or political persuasion.
Maybe what our nation needs today is not more arguments, but more reunions. More opportunities to sit together, share a meal, laugh at old memories, and rediscover that the person on the other side of a disagreement is still, first and foremost, a fellow traveller. Whether in 60’s or 20’s.
After all, friendships that have survived fifty years remind us that people are usually much better at living together than we are led to believe.
This time was a gentle reminder that, beneath all the layers we accumulate through life, there is still a child within us who knows how to accept, forgive, laugh, and belong. Perhaps that is why children find friendship so natural while adults often make it so complicated.
The secret is not that we need to become wiser, stronger, or more persuasive.
All we need is - every now and then, we simply become a little more childlike (not childish) again. And that is what the Good Book reminds us too - unless you become like a child….
👍👍
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