Trapped - Masks to Fit Situation

"Bitter are the tears of a child: Sweeten them.adult that 'one doesn't necessarily need to show one's
Deep are the thoughts of a child: Quiet them.emotions to the outside world'. This mostly leaves the
Sharp is the grief of a child: Take it from him.child petrified and baffled as it seems to be un-natural
Soft is the heart of a child: Do not harden it."and not logical to show what one feels. These genuine
Is an abstract of a poem about a child's innocence andemotions are more often corrected by the adults and
his/her childlike nature.always shunned.
Children are like a mirror or more like a transparentWhen adults, implicitly or explicitly, define children's
glass, where one can see through their emotions,emotional states of being from their own (adults)
feelings and thoughts so clear and so very evidently.perspective, they risk ignoring, minimizing, distorting, or
When the child learns to comprehend and understanddenying children's emotions. This is unacceptable. It
the world around him/her and expresses with thefrequently sabotages the innocence of the child that
purest of intentions. Especially at times of crises andwould be lost forever. Wearing the mask is something
agony, a child can never conceal the response to thelike being trapped into oneself in a complicated way. It
situation. But over time as s/he adapts to the way ofis left to us to decide what we want our future
the world based on the observation or instruction of angeneration to be; masked or innocently true?