Playing It Out

Some people play tennis, some play the violin. Some hope to play it cool when they put their schemes in play, but above all, children play. It’s clear that playing is properly what a child does. It’s quite natural and expected for children to play, even to indulge themselves in outlandish scenarios of imagination---inventing, structuring, plotting, creating out of nothing whole personages and episodes (and all this at a time when their brains are learning an entire language from scratch all on their own.). Or singing to a doll songs made up on the spot, or drawing pictures with sun and tree and a house and people. In any case, whether privately or socially, it makes no difference, to play means to have fun. And who knows?---when you’re not playing you might be crying: it could be that bad. Hardly a day goes by when you don’t cry at least a few times; everything is so contingent, so uncertain, sometimes even scary. Basically unfathomable. But you sort of understand why adults don’t play. That’s not their job, they just get to be in control, to boss, to feed and protect. They had their chance, they had their day. Some even horde their memories. Some never grow up.