“Tankeløst hode får lettest sove” – “An empty head get the easiest sleep” – Norwegian Proverb
“We are destroying childhood” -Spike Milligan
I find there to be profound wisdom in proverbs, sayings and quotes and I marvel at the way they are so succinct in communicating messages to the reader.
Mostly anonymous, they come to us from past generations and from across cultures. They speak of the experiences of lives lived and lessons learned. Quotes, like proverbs, make us think more deeply about something.
And lastly this:
“Art is long and time is fleeting” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I would be glad to hear your thoughts on these words. What was Spike Milligan, a British writer and comedian, inferring, do you think?
Do you sleep well when your head is full of thoughts?
Something to Ponder About
Something to Ponder About 
I think many proverbs do speak of truths, but some of them also lock us in an limit our possibilities.. the lost childhood is so different from time to time, in some respect we are not allowed to grow up either… so maybe we are teens throughout our lives… maybe that’s why leadership is mixed with schoolyard bullies.
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Leadership mixed with schoolyard bullies. An interesting comment. Some of us do act like teens throughout our lives: physically, mentally or emotionally. Have we not felt secure enough in our early years or had our needs met to move into the next life stage in our heads?
At school, to be strong and incisive and even cruel can be seen as a strength to our peers, someone who can stand up for themselves and yet mist bullies are terribly insecure. As an adult in the workplace such actions would be shunned. Different rules apply to the schoolground. But should they be different from society’s rules? Fitting in at school is often about conformity and following the leader: be that a teacher, leader of a peer group or cool bully. As adults in most decent workplaces, we champion an underdog in sport as well as the champion and seek to encourage and include everyone. Why is it so different from school? It is a paradox! Often those cool dudes from school said the most horrid things to their friends and yet they had this charisma that set them apart.
When I read the Spike Milligan quote I thought similar to your words: in some respects we are not allowed to grow up. Kids are so precious we coddle them lest something mortal befall them thereby robbing them of valuable life experiences and lessons. Is that what you thought Bjørn? (And thanks for your comment)
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The first quote. It reminds me of the saying don’t go to bed angry at each other. Also, I think it’s important not to go angry to bed with yourself. It usually makes for a rough night’s, stressed and tense sleep, disturbed sleep in other words. Sometimes I’m guilty of that. I’d be rather mad at myself for not being able to finish writing a blog post. I’d toss and turn thinking of what I could do and how I could finish it. But sometimes though I’m frustrated right before sleep I fall straight to sleep – and that’s usually after a along day at work.
Childhood. I feel that that is such an elusive topic these days. So many kids these days have screens, phones and video games. I suppose they come from a different generation than us, and each to their own as to how we experience the world around us.
As for the last quote, I agree. It can take so long to create art, and someone might just walk right past it without looking at it. Or it could take a few years to write a book and a day for someone to finish reading it. Then again, sometimes that piece of art no matter how briefly you experience it, it can leave an impression of a lifetime 🙂
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Art can be incredibly fulfilling or incredibly painful. Or it is sometimes a bit of both. I take time with my art and often draw it out much longer than is needed. Sometimes my lack of progress irritates me in the same way that you get frustrated with unfinished writing. Yet I try to let that feeling go, (often unsuccessfully), as I am enjoying it at this pace. If I sped up the pace, it would become a chore, something on the job list to complete. And that is no fun at all.
As for the Norwegian proverb, I feel it reflects our worries and how they often arise when all is quiet and we try to sleep. If we can empty our mind of these worrisome thoughts we will sleep better. You are fortunate that sleep is not illusive for you Mabel. I usually don’t have trouble in that area either unless I am stressed but many people do if we consider the medications for aiding sleep that are in use. Thanks for your comment.
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I do know that the first quote is true. When we are upset over something we can’t sleep – we go over and over it in our minds which doesn’t allow us to rest easy.
With the second quote, I loved listening to Bad Jelly the Witch on the radio as a child. It is fantasy. It was allowing us to be a child. To be able to be creative as a child is to enable that child to grow into an adult who has ideas and inspiration. Today, many parents are controlling their children by determining what sports they should play, who they should play with and what they should study. We should be looking at the child and letting the child determine what direction they should go – when the child has a passion for something, they are more likely to succeed at their chosen area.
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Hi Raewyn and thanks so much for your excellent comment. Control is so much the undercurrent of lives these days and often a part of the cause of discontented feelings. Parents often deliberately delay starting a family until they feel financially secure and try hard to do a good job of raising children. They want their children to suceed, for if they don’t, they might feel it reflects badly on themselves and they have failed. Parents have their own ideas about what the journey to ‘success’ for their children might look like and try to mould/guide the child in this way. I agree that moulding/controlling children’s interests too much destroys childhood as Spike suggests. You can control a child for so long, but sooner or later they rebel, usually in adolescence. If not, the child would fail to develop a separate identity and will be forever attached to the parent. We raise a child to NOT need us as parents, ie: to help them achieve independence. In this way to succeed as a parent, we do ourselves out of a job. If parents do not allow fantasy, exploration, risks and failures which all work towards the child determining their own individual direction in life, it is really then that we, as parents, fail in our jobs.
Some children worry parents as they go through adolescence and some go completely off the rails. It would be interesting to see if there is any correlation between children exploring freely in their youth and youth disconnection with society. Of course there are many factors at play here and this is but one aspect of the puzzle.
I do agree that being able to explore and try out many things allows kids to potentially discover a passion for themselves. Passions cannot be chosen by another.
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Oh that Spike Milligan quote resonates with me. I think he unfortunately has a point there. We do destroy childhood in making our children grow up too fast. Look how the school system works almost everywhere (but some smart countries) now. Kids have to be in childcare, Early Learning Centers, Kindergartens, schools as soon as possible. It all is being excused with socialization. Babies are being dropped off at childcare centers, kids 3 years old put in Early Learning Centers. Stuff is taught to them when their minds can not even come close to processing most of it. They are turned into little adults rather then letting them be what they are and very soon never can be again: Innocent children.
Instead we “teach” them how to deal with pressure and expectations, with being bullied and so on. Rather then letting them run free and play. Discover the world they grew up in…
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Oh you have raised some excellent points here. There is such a push towards making children independent, these days, and of course we all want that, but where do we draw the line ? When is it too much, pushing children over into anxiety? Discovery and independence is best chosen by the child when they are ready for it in a natural sense. It is far better to have the child initiate this rather than it be forced on a child who is not ready emotionally, physically or mentally. Thanks for joining in the discussion. Great comment.
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I totally agree with you. Thank you for kicking this discussion off 🙂
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If I’m interpreting it correctly, I can testify to the truth of the first quote! Anyone who goes to bed with worries, or their head full of ‘things to do’ tomorrow is is in for a bad night’s sleep. An over-active mind just refuses to be quiet!
As for the second quote… I loved Spike Milligan and the cleverness of his simple poems and stories. His poem, ‘On the Ning Nang Nong where the cows go bong…’ delighted children for years. So did his many stories. I know some of these stories because my sister bought one of our children a book of them when he was young. One is about a knight called Sir Nobonk and his quest to kill a dragon. Spike Milligan made his stories and poems sound almost like nonsense (but they usually had deeper meanings) to delight and entertain children. I can well imagine him expressing the message in that quote. Many children today grow up far too fast and have too many pressures on them to fully enjoy the joys of childhood. A couple of examples could include expectations on them to succeed at school. Many children spend hours doing homework or extra-curricular studies and clubs instead of playing out or engaging in other ‘fun’ things. I realise parents are thinking of their children’s futures in the competitive world of work and I have no solution to offer here. Modern life is hard. Another issue is that many children can’t wait to become teenagers, or even become ‘grown ups’ and dress and behave accordingly before that time. Make-up for five- year-olds will never tally with my views on childhood. (Please note that these are just my personal views and I respect the views of others who disagree.)
I simply can’t disagree with the last quote. All forms of art endure, many for centuries. They all bear a record of times past in a world where time moves rapidly on. ‘Time and tide wait for no man.’
Sorry for the rambling response.
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Millie, don’t apologise for the the rambling response. I love it! I very well know the Ning nang nong song and used to sing that to my kids. We loved the part where the monkeys just say Boo! (I am singing it in my head now!!) However, I didn’t know Spike was the author. I also love the deeper meaning in his words. Although the “Ning nang nong,” song is just be for fun and the exception to this, perhaps?
In regards to his quote, it is good to hear a teacher’s perspective and my thoughts align with yours. Especially with make up and too much homework. I ad one child that loved homework and two that hated it. I guess most kids hate it! And would rather be playing. In everything,I think it is better to find a balance. Kids who are indulged and have no responsibilities, tend not to cope well with adulthood. On the other hand, children working from a young age without down time would equate to child slavery. Where one draws the line is perhaps indicative of society and family values? Where would you draw the line in the 12th century as compared to the 21st century, Millie?
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Quotes are great and I simply love the photograph!
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Thank you Dahlia. Thanks for stopping by. I assume you mean the photograph of the water with the dead trees?
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Yes – I have a special liking for trees, especially (apparently) dead trees 🙂
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I like them too. They evoke such character!
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Yes! I find them terribly awe inspiring
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