Nope, Not Whatever

"Want to see something neat?"

"Sure."

"Look! I edited this video! I added this, and this, and this. And, okay, you are probably rolling your eyes, 'Whatever, I did that twenty years ago.'"

"I'm not rolling my eyes. I'm excited for you."

When I was a college student, I had this retrospectively annoying attitude that, if someone already did it, I didn't want to learn about it, it had already been done. What I was doing at that time was being an asshole. I am not that person today.

Today, I am EXCITED when someone, anyone, kid or adult, shows me this new thing they learned how to do. I am bouncing with joy at their victories, even when that victory is very, very small. I am going to clap and cheer for that accomplishment, because it is new and you learned it, you did it.

Somehow, as a youth, I had lost my childlike sense of wonder. It had been beaten out of me by the anger and bitterness and frustration of an imperfect life.

And yet, again somehow, I found it again: that sense of wonder, that joy of creation, the delight of making something that didn't exist before, something that needed to exist, to be born. I am sad at those years I spent missing how amazing this world is and can be.

So, no, I am not thinking, "Whatever."

I am saying, "That's awesome. Show me more."