Peter Pan Syndrome

There's a childlike hope that believes all good will come to pass, a faith that knows everything is possible, a laughter that's pure and uncontrollable, and a hunger for adventure that's contagious. Wendy knew this, and it's why she fell in love with Peter Pan. But like the rest of us, Wendy had to grow up, and when it came down to it, it's what she really wanted. We're all faced with the challenge of learning to take responsibility for our lives and grow up, but we never lose that love for the childlike. It becomes the definition of magic. What's harder than growing up is being grown up, and realizing that you can never have that back. When Wendy encounters Peter again as an adult she is faced with the realization that she'll always love Peter. The cold truth is that she's made herself into something apart from him by she choosing to be an adult: and we all do.

"She let her hands play in the hair of the tragic boy. She was not a little girl heart-broken about him; she was a grown woman smiling at it all, but they were wet eyed smiles.

Then she turned up the light, and Peter saw. He gave a cry of pain; and when the tall beautiful creature stooped to lift him in her arms he drew back sharply."

~J.M. Barrie "Peter Pan"

In choosing to be adults there's a painful understanding that we've chosen to imitate the molds of those who have come before us. Peter Pan is all of the good qualities that Wendy adored, but he's a child: and his selfish, forgetful, irresponsible nature was just as much apart of him. I wonder if it's possible to be an adult and keep the good parts of the childlike nature, and not the bad? So far, I'm not convinced, and I daresay Wendy isn't either.

Originally written 1/14/11

Posted for 3/11/11