Saturday, June 28, 2008

Precocious

I'm sure it was third grade. We were 8 years old. We were precocious. We weren't supposed to know yet that we were all different.

We had figured it out.

What did we do with that information? We didn't know. We were only 8 years old after all.

My friend, Patty, moved to another city. I asked my mom, "if we moved, could we move there?" She said, "Yes, but it's unlikely because I've put so much blood, sweat, and tears into where we live now."

I didn't know what she meant. I only wondered whether if in a new place I had a chance of starting over . . . I already knew the answer was "no." It was a "no" on both counts.

That's the problem with being precocious.

You know your destiny, only then you think it's what you were stuck with -- not who you are.

We were all precocious. They said we were the most rebellious class to ever go through the school.

Why wouldn't we be rebellious, if we knew already?

Precocious. Knowing before you understand what to do.

I'm a grown up, and I still know that precocious feeling now.

Lucky for me, it's familiar.

-- me liz strauss, letting me be

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think as a child precocious seemed to be more common in my world. As I grew my mindset lost sight of the openness, if you will that allowed me to be precocious....interesting post.

Dr.John said...

So the precocious child is rebellious, why not better behaved?

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Hi Mark,
I think we move so fast these days we hardly notice precocious when it's right next to us. :)

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Hi Dr. John!
I don't know that precocious is always rebellious. I don't know that it ever is.

I do know that we often interpret it that way. It's a human thing to think that people who process differently are not so smart, or barring that, being difficult. :)

S L Cunningham said...

Liz,
"Precocious. Knowing before you understand what to do." What a great definition of a word that I have often associated with being gifted, bright, and presumptuous.
Scot

Anonymous said...

Once again you prove that you have a deep understanding of self and are continuing your exploration in an uplifting vein.

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Hi Easy,
I susupect that the very fact that you see this uplift points to your own experience with the word precocious.