The Question: What do Disney movies and the little black dress have in common?

The Answer: They are both simple, and neither one will ever go out of style with me.

I’m not going to get into the little black dress (guys, if you’re confused about it, ask a female to explain), but I will elaborate on the Disney movies. Growing up I have never gotten much into action or horror movies. When it comes down to it, the movies I enjoy watching are the ones that put a smile to my face with cute characters, catchy songs, and innocent story lines. I think these just remind me of the simpler mindset of childhood: there’s a clear-cut good and evil, magic really can happen, and the bad guy is always defeated.

So when did things get so complicated, anyway? I think we can all agree that going to college has opened our eyes to a new level of responsibilities and decisions that before we were (blissfully!) unaware of. My mother is always prepared to remind me that the responsibilities only increase with age, forcing me to repress a large groan. What happened to being “green and carefree,” and why can’t “Time let me play and be Golden in the mercy of his means” any longer? (Thomas 707) I can’t help but feel that with society’s race to improvement/progress/opportunity, we begin to overwhelm ourselves with the millions of choices available to be made every day. We always speak of upgrading and improving, but is that really going to make us happy? I’ll be the first to admit that a computer is basically a necessity now, but anyone else have some bad memories of nights spent in frustration over glitches or other problems that always seem to strike at the most inopportune moment? And having a car is great, but having gone without one this semester, I have a new appreciation for the lack of insurance I have to pay, the gas I don’t need, the ability to walk either way down a one-way street, and so much else I just sucked up and dealt with when I used a car.

I know that some of the times I felt happiest was when things were amazingly simple: looking out at the stars around a campfire, making a birthday card by hand, playing a game of ultimate Frisbee despite the fact that it was pouring down freezing cold rain. There is certainly something to be said for childlike innocence and simplicity, but we don’t seem to be satisfied by that anymore. I can’t go an entire summer just playing video games or going to the pool anymore without feeling….unproductive. We really need that “object other than [our] own happiness…followed not as a means, but as itself an ideal end” in order to feel content (Mill 694). It is my hope, however, that we could learn to focus on that one purpose or foal in life with a childlike enthusiasm and simplicity, so that our life revolves around it, our decisions are shaped by it, and we choose not to encumber ourselves with superfluous objects and decisions. In this way our lives can be “hammered into unity,” and we can hopefully regain some of that fervor for life found in a child’s wonder.