Innocence (Oil-Painting) – By Kelly O’neill
Growing up, I had no idea what sex was about. In fact at my age I still don’t think I really do know what it is. At age 13 I was more interested in watching TV than having my first kiss. At 17 I was interested in boys but too scared to actually do anything about. I used to ask myself “what does somebody even do with a boyfriend other than watch movies?†Fast forward a few years and I now know all about it, age taught me that. I happen to know quite a few teenagers. Most of them have boyfriends and are willingly having sex. This shocks me because at that age I did not even know what sex was.
Sometime back, I was hanging out with a friend and we see these two kids, probably aged 4 and 5 dry humping a teddy bear between them. Like a threesome, making moaning noises and saying things you would only say if you’re having sex. We had to stop them and explain to them it was wrong, they were too young to understand it they just agreed and went off to play a different game. My neighbors recently fired a house help after their kid started discussing sex with them. They blamed the house help.
Go look for teenager right now and just spend the day with them. The things they will say will leave you blushing. Gone are the days a 13 year old only wanted to play video games. Gone are the days you could leave your daughter alone in a room with a boy. Childhood innocence has been lost.
It is not only in sexual matters. Everything has changed. Too much death, tribalism and negativity has taken away our children’s innocence. Kids see so much at a young age they are forced to grow up in seconds. When I was 14 my grandmother died. My cousin was a baby and she did not understand death. Today ask a 7 year old what death is and they explain it to you in full detail.
Who is to blame for the lack of innocence in our children? Children are no longer naïve. They now know too much too soon. Instead of protecting them from all these dangers, we have left them roam free and experience it yet they cannot really form thoughts and understand what it is they are experiencing. Do we blame the parents, the society or the children themselves?
As more children rape each other, give birth and turn to murderers, I ask myself where the innocence has gone. Who will bring it back and make our children safe and innocent again? Should we prepare to have a society ripe with immorality right from our children to the older generation?