A Blank Slate

Imagine for a moment, if you will, this scenario:

You wake up in a forest. You are naked, and do not understand what is happening. Every feeling is new, every sensation a thrill. As you adjust to your surroundings, you realize you know nothing about what you are feeling or thinking. You are also a full-grown teenager.

This is the premise of a new show which recently began airing on ABC Family called, Kyle XY. It follows a boy, Kyle, who has no recollection of his life before waking up in the forest one fateful day. He's taken in by a local psychiatrist and her family, the Tragers. As they attempt to unravel Kyle's mysterious life, they come to realize he is less and less like any "normal" teenager. He has no belly-button. He does not sleep. He can jump from the roof of a house and not injure himself. He can hold his breath for extended periods of time. He can draw images that might as well be photographs. And he uses almost 75% of his brain.

But despite all these characteristics, he knows nothing of himself or the world around him. The Tragers try to teach him the many things most of us take for granted, having spent our lifetimes learning. How do you teach someone right from wrong? What is the truth and when is a lie acceptable? How you do explain love? What is "family"?

These lessons are important, and yet we think nothing of them. We simply "do", just as we simply "are". In one of the early episodes, Kyle stumbles upon a girl playing the piano. The music moves him in a way he does not understand, but it touches him deep inside. Meanwhile the girl's mother pays no attention to the music and shows no interest in the music. This situation causes Kyle deep sadness that not everyone can appreciate such things.

Does anyone really "feel" anymore? Is anyone untainted by life's experiences, allowing them to see the world as a newborn does? It saddens me that this is not the case. We spend our whole lives according to hours, minutes, and seconds. We get caught up in the hustle and bustle of our accelerated society. Norms govern our actions, our speech. That norms should exist at all runs counter to this idea of pure feeling, pure sensationalism. And I don't mean sensationalism the way tabloids are sensationalist.

But then, if pure feeling existed on an infinite timescale, we wouldn't do anything. We would just sit and experience, feeling everything as though for the first time. Society would cease to exist as we know it. Since everyone would be feeling, no one would be creating the wonders that make our lives so interesting.

Yes, these are extremes, and no this is completely unrealistic and utopic. A compromise of sorts is required. Instead of feeling and experiencing every single sensation we come across, these must be filtered. But realize that too much filtering would lead to our current and present situation. I guess what I'm trying to say is this: stop and smell the roses, but not every single one of them. If your path were lined with roses, undoubtedly some would be less magnificent than others. Skip some of those, but not all of them. There must be balance between the good and the bad. So likewise skip some of the better roses too. In the end, you will find yourself satisfied with a day of true living.

This reminded me of you, Char, looking at your buttered toast and saying, "Oohhh, so beautiful!"