Holding a little kid's hand gives me a sense of realism.

It makes me feel tall. Looking down at their pondering face and curious eyes washes a sense of responsibility over me. Like the 5 minutes that I spend holding this little hand in mine means everything. Each question that passes through their head, every reaction they see out of me, all the emotions however huge or overly bland they are that this little person experiences whilst in my care is important. I feel like I need to show them that not all adults are idiots. Partly because I fear for what this child sees and goes through on a daily basis in public school and at home and mostly because that's what I thought about most adults when I was little. I feel this innate desire to show what it means like to be calm and collected. (Notice I left out the 'cool' part that is so often associated with that phrase, because I think that not being cool is perfectly okay and if someone should choose to be otherwise nerdy or weird then more power to them) So what if a glass of milk falls to the floor shattering the glass and spilling milk? Clean it up, giggle about it, and pour another one. Everyone makes mistakes and there are more important things in life to get emotional over than a glass of milk. (Like the lack of Jesse in this week's episode of GLEE /cry)

I feel as if they're affected by everything I do. Not because I'm all that important in general or even to specifically them, but because they somehow absorb everything that goes on around them. As I was enjoying my twin glass of milk with this little person looking over at them across the freshly cleaned table a remarkable group of thoughts splurged in to my head.

And that's when I realized that big people are like that too.

I may be more aware of it with kids, but the truth of the matter is that we're all affected by each other on every capacity. Sometimes we're unconscious of it or choose not to recognize it, but everything that you hear and see and feel are experiences that affect you in one way or another. Maybe the tragic story on the news made you angry, the scores in the paper made you depressed, and the picture pinned up by a magnet on your refrigerator made you realize why neither of the first two really mattered. And that's not even talking about the effect people can have on you. Whether random eye contact on the street makes you smile or the person sort of gives you that 'why-are-you-looking-at-me-anyway' look, the affect is there.

I'm not hoping people will be more aware of those feelings or the reaction to those feelings (although that would be absolutely fantastic and help out the world on a big scale in the long run .. I'll leave that for another blog), but I am taking an active responsibility in the role I play in all this. I'm that person on the street that will smile at you, hold a door open, ask if you need help with a parcel, compliment your hair, and not get snobby if someone else pushes into me by accident or even just to be rude. I promise not to be someone who has a negative effect on anyone's day, to always remember that someone has it worse than me, and to be endlessly thankful for all the things I have in life that make the rest of the junk, not matter.

I can be that calm and collected person all the time and not just when I have a child around me. Adults need to know that not everyone's an idiot too.

Peace, Love & Pancakes
-Liberty