simple times

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I was watching my niece and her peers at gymnastics this morning, as is usual for a Friday. I say gymnastics but it's more an event at which three and four year olds attempt to balance bean bags on their heads and do a roly-poly in the correct way, before writhing around on the floor, legs and arms kengboginn, trying to copy the instructors and often failing miserably. Anywhichway, as I idly watched them I thought how wonderful it would be to just be that age again. No real worries, no real friends, no job, no ridiculous expectations ... wear what you want, be brutally blunt, ask silly questions and take everything you see and hear as gospel. Pure bliss. You even get your dinner cooked for you and your bed made and your bath drawn. *wishful sigh* In an English GCSE lesson on Monday the students were comparing two texts, a negative extract from Darwin's The Voyage of the Beagle and a more positive one from Carter's The Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun. Darwin's is surprisingly sensual in nature as he describes the way water travels down a woman's naked body, but also negative as he talks of miserable natives with ugly faces. In contrast, Carter speaks of delight and loveliness as he marvels at the riches and jewels found in Tutankhamun's final resting place. One of the young lads I work with in the class said to me that he wished he lived in those days or in a tribal culture, distant from the modern world. This is an eighteen year old of the sort that will probably end up in constant trouble with the fuzz if he isn't careful. He's the type of student who I enjoy supporting, needing a lot of encouragement and prompting through humour and colloquial discussion. He's the sort of kid that most adults dislike, but I tend to see the vulnerable side of these youngsters. But when he said that to me he had his phone in his hand. I pointedly looked at it to convey the message that he wouldn't have one of those way back when. I wouldn't care, he told me. I just wish the world wasn't like it is. There's too much pressure, too much technology. And he's so right. The world today is more judgemental and vindictive than it's ever been and I am so glad I'm not his age now, just beginning my adult life. We rely too much on technology. We bow down to peer pressure. We turn people into celebrities who have no right, rhyme or reason to be famous. A simpler life is just so appealing sometimes.