Monday's Letter to the editor

Living in Neverland

Dear editor:

1) He takes credit for good things that happen, when someone else deserves the credit.

2) He blames someone else when bad things happen, when he deserves the blame.

3) He changes the subject when he is about to be hemmed in.

4) He lies when the truth would serve better.

5) He exaggerates what he has done that is good, and downplays what is not so good. (There is never anything between the two.)

6) He endorses the two assumptions of childhood: Wishing will make it happen; saying it will make it true.

These are characteristics or manifestations of childishness -- something that mature people have outgrown, to a great extent. Certainly they strive daily to achieve maturity and to leave the childish, self-centered life behind.

Paul, in First Corinthians 13:11, says that when he was a child he spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. This was normal and to be expected. But when he grew up, he put away childish things, as everyone is supposed to do.

Peter Pan should have read Paul's story. His hours in Neverland are spent in trying to hold on to childhood. Holly Gurgan (Pratt Institute) describes him this way: "He's (Peter Pan) not just happy-go-lucky and fun and silly. He also has an incredibly underdeveloped, thin grasp on what is right and what is wrong. He says hurtful things and throws temper tantrums when things don't go his way. In short, he's flawed -- but particularly in a way that you'd expect children to be flawed."

Is there any chance that he will mature before irreparable damage is done?

C.G. Smith

Hot Springs

Editorial on 10/14/2019

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