What do you Feel when you observe innocence?

For me, I feel a sharp form of pity and sadness. And that provokes a desire to protect the innocent being (whether it’s a child, an animal, or whatever else) from the harsh world.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. I feel it most strongly when I look at babies and children. Especially the children of friends and family in today’s world. Sometimes I feel it looking at pictures of myself when I was a kid.

Is this what I’m supposed to feel when I see innocence? I never thought about it causing pain and sadness before, but upon reflection it definitely hits those notes for me. What does it make you feel?

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Same, growing up in an abusive household it really makes me cringe to think about innocence being corrupted. Sadly that’s the state of the world now as always.

I miss having a child like wonder about things.

Pretty similar. It’s something like “Aw, that’s cute. I wonder when that will end.”

If it’s a child’s innocence, sadness for what’s to come for them.

I feel similar to when I see a dark sky full of stars. I feel wonder and amazement because innocence is so rare, especially in San Francisco. I feel an urge to protect it. And there are times when I think of how precious and fleeting it is and there is an anger that comes from knowing others are so careless with it. We’re so fragile mentally and physically and there is a power dynamic when you realize how quickly you can end someone’s innocence about something. But at the same time how there’s even more power in protecting it.