Children Remind Us How to Tell an Interesting Story
By: Taylor Foreman
Tags: Life, Life Lessons, Courage, Dogs, Motivation

NO!

Our first, simultaneous reaction was to say, “NO!”

No to the cuteness, I guess? No to the idea that a human being could be so pure? I’m not sure the meaning of the reaction, but the parents seemed delighted.

They say that the “cute” area of the brain is near the “aggression” area. Think mama bear.

This child has enraptured all of our attention. Looking around, just about everyone within earshot was watching and listening, too.

How had this kid just captured the imagination and melted the hearts of bitter adults waiting too long for a hipster sandwich?

Tiny Hero, Tiny Journey

Children capture us for the same reason that Harry Potter captures us: we love a hero’s journey.

This kid had just gone on a pure little hero’s journey and we were all ready to help him along the way.

We all instinctively knew not to force him to do anything he wasn’t ready to do. Neither were we thinking, “Man, I’m not afraid to touch a dog. I’m so much braver than this child . . .” Instead, we were all invested in this little hero’s journey, encouraging him to go beyond his current limits.

The same thing happens to Harry Potter. Dumbledore doesn’t just do everything for Harry. He also doesn’t roll his eyes at his relative mediocrity in wizardry.

Instead, he tries to meet Harry where he’s at — always pushing him just beyond his limits.

When I saw that this kid was afraid to touch my dog, I knew to encourage him.

“You wanna touch his ear?”

This was near the edge of his comfort. We all watched with bated breath as a child approached a dog’s ear.

Courage Is About Exploring Personal Limitations

When we become adults, shame enters the picture.

A lot of us are afraid to admit what our own limitations even are. We pretend to be more than we are.

Imagine how much more difficult it would have been for the boy to confront his fear of my dog if he was pretending to not be afraid of the dog.

Not only would he struggle to truly face the fear — he would also lose the support and attention of the community. In this case, all the attention of the adults in the vicinity — including me and his father.

People are only interested in your story if you are honestly and shamelessly confronting your true limitations.

If you are pretending to be someone you’re not — by lying about fears, status, money, friends, etc. — then you will never grow.

Truly Interesting Creative Content Is At Your Limits

When the boy said, “He’s singing about Christmas . . .” two things happened at once.

He used his imagination and previous knowledge to come up with a creative answer to a question He put an exclamation point on the adult attention he already had

Creativity is a dime a dozen. Most writers are creative. I see writing on Medium every single day that bowls me over.

The real question is: How do we get people to pay attention?

The same way this child did: by shamelessly displaying and confronting our limitations.

No one cares about how many followers you have. They would rather know what you’re struggling with.

Once you have their attention, then and only then, will your creativity make them go, “NO!”

We Can’t Be Children Again

My shame-ridden adult self is always trying to convince me that I’m not enough.

It thinks that I need to brag to all of you to get you to pay attention to me. This child reminded me that the opposite is true.

To earn your attention, I have to show you who I really am — where I truly am in life and where I am trying to go.

If I am currently afraid of a 17-pound dog, then I need to display that for the world to see. Sure, some bitter people will probably make fun of me. That’s the price we pay for being pure.

Children don’t have shame because they haven’t met many of these bitter people yet — hopefully, anyway.

We don’t have that luxury. We have to be courageous despite the shame. We can’t get rid of it. We have left the innocence of childhood behind — never to return.