Warning: Hashtag Deep

I occasionally get pretty serious. I try not to, but sometimes heavy things happen that I feel I should discuss, and something happened today at camp that made me really think.

It was during arrival time, and the campers were still showing up slowly but surely. One of the boys who had already been there for a while walked up to me and said:

"I'm scared."

"Scared of what?" I asked him.

"Of dying." He said.

Now, maybe it's less shocking to read, but when one of your most energetic campers says something like this out of the blue, it can be jarring. I paused briefly trying to think of how to respond to that, and eventually what came out was: "I think everyone is." Probably the most honest response I could've given. It may not be directly reassuring, but I'd like to think that a shared burden is easier to carry. Knowing you aren't the only one can be a relief.

And that was that. He clung to my arm for a few somber moments, resting his head on me. I just kind of stood there in a stupor, suddenly pondering my own mortality, wrenched out of my usual, more jovial state of mind. And then he walked away, back to his usual self, as if none of it happened. It just struck me as surreal.

I mean, I guess we never really understand mortality completely. All you know when you're that young is that the word has a striking sense of permanence, and your parents probably throw it around to teach you not to do life-endangering things. But even then, the fear of actually dying is not something you often realize until you're watching your life flash before your eyes, and you don't expect someone that young to say something like that to you.

I'm realizing more and more every day that kids are really just younger humans. It sounds obvious, but I feel like sometimes we forget that human nature still applies to them. They still have hearts and minds just like the rest of us, and they still live the human condition. They have hardships, and they find their own ways to get past them. I'd even venture so far as to say that their struggles are even harder due to lack of wisdom and experience.

Kids, despite the frequency of their crying fits, might be the strongest of us. Their resilience and willpower can be pretty inspiring when it comes down to it.