Dingy Sleeves

Howard Thurman points out a paradox today, that as children we often strive to be more like grown ups, and grown ups we often strive to be more like children.  He notes that as adults we can easily feel we have seen it all and can arrive at a point in which we have “no response for surprises, for that which is breathlessly beautiful.” That is, we are at high risk for becoming world-weary (the German “weltschmerz”), or as Thurman puts it, “incapable of the tremor of sheer delight or the thill of intense awe and wonder.” Thurman’s encouragement is “to recapture the wonder of little children, to know once again the fresh feel of the unknown as we stand on the threshold of new adventure, this saves life from boredom and keeps it from growing dingy on our sleeve.”

And who wants life to become “dingy on our sleeve?