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Experience Gained is Innocence Lost (12/29/99)

I may or may not have actually heard that phrase tonight in a song written by a friend. Whether it was in the song or not, the important thing is that I heard it. It struck me as very true, but also very misleading, so I decided to sit down and decipher exactly what this phrase means to me.

Upon hearing the phrase, it struck me immediately as sad. What a terrible trade must be made to experience. Everything learned must be accompanied by a tragic sacrifice of our precious innocence. What is innocence? There are many definitions, most of which deal with legal standing or plants. These are definitions of a word, but the innocence that I am attempting to describe is a concept. What words are associated with innocence? Youth, purity, wholesomeness, simplicity, inoffensiveness, the list goes on. With each day, we become more "experienced" and less like God, for who is more pure than our maker? These thoughts might the casual listener ascribe to the refrain "experience gained is innocence lost" but I am seldom casual, and never satisfied.

Why then, do I disagree with my previous statements? Why do I think the phrase misleading? Read on, so that I may explain. The word innocence is rightly imbued with all those positive connotations, but we must consider the context . We give up a small portion of innocence for each experience we gain. Why should this be bad? Perfect innocence is also perfect ignorance, and that is no way to live. Innocence and ignorance are close kin, and must be balanced by each man and woman for himself or herself. But never forget, we possess innocence by nature, we gain experience by achievement. Some are great, some are small, but all are earned.

In my life, I have given up a great deal of innocence for experience, more than some, far less than others. Much of it I gave willingly and thus embraced my experiences. Some was taken from me, and though at the time I mourned it, I would not take it back for anything man could offer. Occasionally I look back and take stock of my short time here and examine my world. In the end, I have decided that there is very little that is truly belongs to me, very little that is my own . Material possessions mean nothing, money is a means to survive, not an end, so what is left? My physical features I owe to my parents, as I do my personality and my so-called intelligence. They are responsible for my upbringing and my education, and for all of these I am indescribably thankful, but they are not mine . So what is mine? When everything is examined for what it really is, the only thing that I can truly claim as my own is the mistakes that I have made.

No one taught me to stab my grandfather’s favorite leather chair with a screwdriver, nor was I instructed how to call the fire department and report a fire that did not exist. I was never schooled in the fine art of Speak before Think, nor did I receive lessons on how to fly a car (although those would have come in handy—especially the landing part). For each of these experiences, I forever lost some of my innocence, and none of them was pleasant—or, at least the consequences weren’t. But I have learned far more from one unpleasant experience than I have from a year’s worth of good ones. I am who I am because of my experiences and—even more so—my mistakes. They define me, and without them I would be just another innocent, lost and easy prey in a world of experience.

edit: added spaces to make it easier to read
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Give me ambiguity or give me something else...

This message has been edited by Beldurin on November 07, 2001 at 08:44 PM

The thing you miss is that innocence and goodness aren't mutually exclusive. In fact, quite the opposite. Nobody could possibly be good if he didn't choose against the badness. And, nobody can know the badness unless first realizing it. I would liken innocence to forced ignorance. The truly righteous would experience the goodness and the badness and, in the end, choose the goodness... thus, securing his place among the heavens.

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When everything is examined for what it really is, the only thing that I can truly claim as my own is the mistakes that I have made,

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but really, when you make the choice to do something good, it's the same thing. If you push someone out of the way of a car, (I think) that is the same gut reaction, your reaction, to 'stimulus' as stabbing a couch (or pushing someone in front of the car). If evil actions are your own, why not good actions as well?

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Originally posted by RenegadeSnark:
If you have a problem with the average IQ around here, don't do things to lower it.

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TaxMan:
That's a good point, and I'm not trying to be negative with this at all, perhaps it came across too much like I was. I'm also not trying to say that people are solely defined by their mistakes. Remember, it's all a reflection on the phrase "experience gained is innocence lost."

Thanks for the comments everyone!

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When everything is examined for what it really is, the only thing that I can truly claim as my own is the mistakes that I have made.

It's those times that really test character.

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kuru
'dancing is the vertical expression of horizontal desire.'
-robert frost