My mind has been obsessed recently. Not with anything bad or evil, don't worry. Well... actually, it is "bad" and "evil" themselves which I have found my thoughts wandering to. It is easy to see that our world is on a slippery slope when it comes to media and society being filled with filth and lasciviousness. It becomes harder everyday for me to just sit down and watch TV because I will always end my couch potato session offended by something that is shown or said. These feelings I have and I know others share are what the world looks down upon, instead of the evils themselves. If a person wants to turn off "the tube" or get up and leave the theatre when the presentation is below their moral compass, everyone around them seems to look down upon them or think they are over-reacting or "different". But who are really the "different" ones? That is what my mind is investigating within itself. I'm a nanny right now for a little boy who is almost 4 and a little girl who is about 9 months. So the other day I was sitting in the car reading the book "Catching Fire" (P.S. The Hunger Games is such a GREAT series so far) while I was waiting to pick him up from school. I was distracted by the field in front of me where there was an older man and his son playing ball. I started thinking about how what they were doing would make such a great picture for an ad. They look like part of a family who is so genuine, loving and good. A father who puts in the time to build a relationship with his kids. In that quiet moment when I watched them, I was able to hear the sounds of the children playing at the pre-school playground. Voices, laughter, high pitched squeals... happiness. It wasn't based on something tangible like tv or a video game, it wasn't one thing in specific, it was just them being themselves and loving every second of it.
One reason children are so happy is because they don't recognize the evil and the bad that surrounds them in the world. They are innocent. Free of sin to bog them down. Free of past mistakes that have tainted their thoughts, minds and hearts. They are not filled with the knowledge of evil, but instead are filled with good. Children naturally assume the best, they are as King Benjamin said,"submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit... to (their) father." In fact King Benjamin, Christ himself and many other prophets have all counseled us to become as little children. Could this be what they are referring to?
So often people look down upon the innocent of mind. Judge them, thinking they are inexperienced or don't know how to have fun. What they don't understand is innocence isn't being below the knowledge of evil, but being above it. It is being filled with light and knowledge of good. That is why the people of Zarahemla replied to their King saying, "the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent... has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually." We must be cleansed from our "knowledge" of evil, forget about it completely, that we might become innocent and pure. That we might become like Christ. In this way, innocence is something that I hold on to, each and every day.
How much happier are those who focus on the bad in the world? Those who know dirty jokes or dirty meanings for things? Those who feast their eyes on the pleasures of man? Compare that to the little girl who laughs carelessly, enjoying her time swinging her day away at the playground. This is SIMPLE. This is PURE. This is HAPPINESS: to not have evil knowledge hovering over you and your thoughts. To have an innocence of mind and to think of only positive things... not only because you choose to but because you know life no other way.
