How far have we travelled?

Just this last week I received an unexpected short course in essential life skills. Who would have thought a tiny baby could teach me so much? How did that tiny scrap of humanity, barely three weeks old, arrive in the world with so much understanding, sensitivity and wisdom to share? Just one week in the presence of purity, simplicity and baby know-how transported me into another world – his world. The world of baby Oscar is a world of delightful innocence, breathtaking naivety and, at the same time,  an awe-inspiring realism. Oscar’s world is about essentials: sleep, feed, bath, love – possibly not in that order. Oscar’s world is alternately full of the most amazing peacefulness and the most heart-rending screams. But a contented baby is one of the most heart-warming sights in this world; the sight of little Oscar, fast asleep, cheek resting on his tiny hand and breathing with deep little sighs of contentment is a wonder to behold. Tiptoe softly around him in case you awaken this blissful repose.

 

Oscar’s needs and wants are simple: the sound of a familiar voice, the smell of his mother’s skin, the ever-ready milk bar, the long awaited touch of Daddy, home at last from work and caressing him with eager fingers...

 

Pure as the driven snow – a cliché in most circumstances but a mysterious truth when applied to babies. Oscar is a January baby and pushing his pram through the piles of freshly swept, pure white snow seems oddly appropriate – a crisp, pristine snowy vista, under skies of perfect blue, as a fitting backdrop for this most perfect new life, soft, white and baby-new. A new, unblemished life, a blank canvas awaiting whatever life may bring, unsullied by the ugliness of life’s disappointments, hardships and imperfections, but sparkling in the sunshine, full of promise. This image will be fixed in my mind forever. In Oscar’s world the closest attention is paid to the tiniest details: a small fleck of yellow sleep is gently brushed from Oscar’s eye; the tiniest of milk spots detected on his little forehead is brooded over anxiously. Pure as the driven snow.

 

Where did we go wrong? How did life get so complicated? How did we stray so far from the basics? We have lost our inner peace. In our adult worlds of street-cred and worldly wisdom we have strayed so far from the contentment we once knew at the touch of a hand, the sense of belonging and being loved, through the simple awareness of the nearness of family and friends and the joy of unashamed eye to eye contact. Oscar gazes into my eyes, unblinking, soaking up the warmth and admiration I give him and returning it willingly, without a hint of distrust or suspicion. This last week has been a week of de-tox, a health farm retreat, whilst a crash course has been delivered in the basic joys and essentials of life itself. Thank you Oscar.