Byline: Famous Monsters Part 7: Revenge of the Creature
Innocence is a condition which only exists in retrospect. It can't be appreciated, confirmed or committed to while one is in its state. The state's got it right -- one can only be guilty or not guilty. No one is innocent, at least when the time comes to go on record.
The coating of innocence sheds like so many pleas tape recorded and rendered under the fingers of court stenographers. Indeed, all innocence is limited. Kids get no passes. Tragedies affect and leave their effects. And kid, there just ain't no pass.
Creatures crawl forth babbling doctrines of terror and horror supposing they are less than guilty. Victims vilify themselves as soon as their victory is viewed as vengeance. But when you create a creature you have to feed it or run the risk of it eating you.
Trying to keep from being imprisoned by our creatures and inventions is hazardous duty. They become our definitions. The world only sees the baggage behind us -- creatures, inventions, addictions, police records. There is no greater curse than never being able to be who we are.
So we battle the creatures and fight from being eaten. Some of us don't make it past the first round -- others move on to exhibit scars and patch up wounds. The wounds are our uniqueness and our spirit finds an opening in the brokenness.
Conflict is the sound of life happening. These battles must go on. Action has to take place. Eventually the universe gives up on people who don't take action. It stops sending you its gifts.
You can't have full-time goals and take part-time actions. Otherwise, your creature will just fester in a dark place and become a dream that won't go away. The world may wish to deny your creature but the universe refuses to let it go.
At some point we awaken and realize all that we can be and all that is holding us down and perhaps at that point we come to recognize the beauty of innocence.
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