Things We Can Learn from Children to Live a Life Worth Remembering
We keep trying to turn them into adults when it should be the other way round
We don’t stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing.
George Bernard Shaw wrote that quote. I have long experienced it.
I was once on a solo trip from Brisbane to Dusseldorf when a child sat beside me on a 14-hour-long flight. He looked 2–3 years old.
People often get upset when seated next to a child on an airplane. Constant yelling, mindless fidgeting, and incessant murmuring over trivial matters can disrupt the tranquility of your journey.
But as I watched the cheerfully mischievous kid hop onto the seat and sing the Baby Shark song right into his mother’s ears, I couldn’t stop smiling in amusement.
Suddenly, he started whining and fidgeting with the armrest as his mom showed no sign of acknowledgment or frustration.
I don’t blame him. Banks and airplanes are two of the most boring places for a child.
As I sat glued to him, he looked at me and grinned.
Instead of asking like a typical adult — why on earth are you continuously staring at me? — he offered me his stuffed toy…
