"I want to know where children would go if they never learned to be cool..."

I was just sitting here listening to a song by Missy Higgins when she sang a lyric that started me on a grain of thought. The lyric? "I want to know where children would go if they never learned to be cool. Because nothing's achieved when pushed up a sleeve so nobody thinks you're a fool." I started thinking--that in itself is dangerous--the possibilities that would open up if we dropped the whole idea of self-image. I then began trailing back to the beautiful innocence of a child. Look at a child and what do you see? I see joy and freedom. Freedom from worry. Freedom from fear. Freedom to trust.

Why is that innocence lost and how do children "learn to be cool"? I think that innocence is lost because of sin. It's a chain reaction that goes all the way back to the Garden. Adam and Eve chose to lose innocence and gain knowledge of evil. Isn't that what innocence is? Ignorance of evil? Because they gained that knowledge, sin unravelled their children's innocence as well. I've come to the conclusion that innocence is lost by the experience of others losing their innocence. Sorry if that doesn't make sense. I'm trying to say that as one experiences the sin of others, his mind has grasped evil it didn't know before. I think that's why the beauty of children is in their innocence and lack of sin experience.

As kids get older and taste more of the world, they develop a hunger for more experience. I think that's where the "learning to be cool" comes into play. As they learn more about the selfish nature of sin, they desire more acceptance and try to gain it by blending in and being cool. I can't even imagine how different this world would be if "being cool" wasn't an issue. I think there are so many different personalities, beautiful personalities, that would be unleashed. In Luke 18:17, Jesus says, "Assuredly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." There is so much there, but I think Christ wants us to regain innocence and seek his kingdom with unhindered faith.