You can always think that the world is an orderly place when growing up as a kid and surrounded by grownups who look like they know exactly what they’re talking about.
Growing up as an 11 or 12 year old kid, I was always aware of the conversations of the grownups like my father, uncles and neighbors, as they were debating, and each offering their own version of the current events. And I still remember how the grownups, whether in the churchyard or the backyard of a house, as they sipped on their sweetened teas, discussed, argued and at times raised their fists up in the air to make sure the point they were making was loud and clear. And even though at times a mere discussion on a mundane topic turned out to be a shouting match, it provided to my childish mind a sense of comfort and security knowing that regardless of how bad things were, the grownups were in charge and somehow they will find a reasonable and just solution for all the challenges we were facing at the time.
But my confidence and my complete reliance on the wisdom of the grownups shattered, actually on the exact date when the entire world anxiously waited for the scheduled historical moment of the first humans landing on the moon. I remember vividly how so many of our neighbors actually purchased their first black & white TV sets so they could watch the landing in their own homes with their family members and friends. Since we didn’t have a TV set, my family went to my aunt’s house where we watched a real human being who actually landed and walked on the moon, a vision that for my childish and innocent mind could have only happened in a fairy tale.
Unfortunately, this fantastic event, which was regarded as the triumph of all mankind, suddenly was transformed into what we call nowadays, “fake news.” How so? Many of the grown ups began spreading the belief that this whole thing about Americans landing on the moon was simply a made-up story and it was all staged.
“These people walking on the moon are nothing but actors on a Hollywood movie set,” they said. And astonishingly people not only believed in but singlemindedly negated and refused to acknowledge the brilliance of human ingenuity and scientific triumph. That was the first time my childish mind had to struggle to decide if what I witnessed on TV was the real thing or if it was just a reality show. But from that moment on my trust in the wisdom of the adults evaporated in my consciousness.
It seems that not much has changed from the days of the first humans landing on the moon, and as a child I grew up deciding between a lie and the truth. Nowadays everyone, regardless of age, acts like a grownup. And unlike in the olden age where there was a sense of what’s right and what’s wrong, and there were the good guys and the bad guys, and one trusted the members of their own families, in our current age you can’t even trust your own brother or sister who have been brainwashed into believing in something that is totally misguided and inaccurate.
This is when I decided to examine, at least within my own mind, and redefine the concept of growing up and what being an adult means to me. Unlike my own elders who punched the table and screamed at the top of their lungs to make their point of view to be heard, I decided that simply listening and observing is far wiser than trying to convince those for whom deception and myth is the only truth.
Of course, such an easygoing and a non-aggressive approach would be viewed by my elders as being weak and spineless, but for me it is a sign of growing up and that I am becoming a man in my own right. Hey, I can’t even believe I am saying this, but I am finally a grownup.
Varoujan Froundjian is a digital artist and writer. He can be reached at: varlink3050@gmail.com.
