nacole(:

“Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.”
-Edna St. Vincent Millay

Who has the authority to say at this age you become an adult? I think it is contextual, it varies by individual, it is either everlasting, never beginning or it comes to a dead end. [With varying options, of course]
An everlasting childhood may be something like Peter Pan. The child who never wants to grow up and seizes every day as a new adventure, an opportunity to see the Seven Wonders, a way to escape from the duties of life. A way to indulge in the deliciousness life has to offer.
A childhood that never begins, is one that is stolen from society or from the factors they are born into. People are forced into adulthood without experiencing the beauty, innocence and creativity of a childhood.
A childhood that comes to a dead end is one in which you have a set date of when you become an adult. There is no more room for making a house out of a cardboard box instead your days are filled with your career or whatever it may be that you have decided to fill your time. The richness of imagination seems to have slipped through your fingers.
Whatever it may be there is no doubt that a childhood from ten years ago is nothing like a childhood today. What happened to coloring books, bicycles, having a curfew of when the street lights went out - has transformed into iPods, touchpads, who has the fastest internet and who can pull all nighters playing video games.
Maybe this new reality is just an adjustment we have to make but as for me I don’t want to lose my grip on imagination. Technology may influence and benefit my life but never will it control it.

“Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.”
-Robert Frost

From TOMS Shoes:

In 2006 an American traveler, Blake Mycoskie, befriended children in Argentina and found they had no shoes to protect their feet. Wanting to help, he created TOMS Shoes, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. One for One. Blake returned to Argentina with a group of family, friends and staff later that year with 10,000 pairs of shoes made possible by caring TOMS customers.

Since our beginning, TOMS has given over 150,000* pairs of shoes to children in need through the One for One model. Because of your support, TOMS plans to give over 300,000 pairs of shoes to children in need around the world in 2009.

Our ongoing community events and Shoe Drop Tours allow TOMS supporters and enthusiasts to be part of our One for One movement. Join us.

TOMS Shoes was founded on a simple premise: With every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. One for One. Using the purchasing power of individuals to benefit the greater good is what we’re all about.