Lost Innocence

Do you remember anything from your childhood?

Chances are you recall bits and pieces, but traumatic memories stick with you the rest of your life.
As children, we all have a powerful gift. The gift of innocence. The ability to see beauty in simple things and to live without worries. When something traumatic occurs, namely death, or when we get older, we lose this innocence. It's something you can simply never get back....

Look back if you can to when you lost your own innocence....
Try to recall it.

I was five at the time. I remember my mother stopped at a grocery store. Apparently I was acting up or something and she thought she would teach me a "lesson". She left me in the car alone while going inside. I got out of the car after 5-10 minutes and a stranger tried to grab me. I crawled underneath the car to get away from him. Then another person grabbed me from under the car and called the cops. I sat there with another family until the cops arrived. I still remember the thoughts that crossed my mind that day. I thought I'd never see my family again. That I might be alone forever. Then finally my mother came and she was crying. (years later I would find out she was watching me from inside the store, and that she nearly lost custody of me after that incident).

After that my Innocence was simply gone. I now knew there was a dark side along with every light side. That life wasn't filled with only happiness. Terror, fear, and death also existed. And quite frankly, I was scared....

This relates the great Russian Filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky's debut film, "Ivan's Childhood".

Ivan's Childhood is a film about a young boy growing up during the time of World War 2 in Russia. The boy's parents and younger sister get killed by Nazi's and young Ivan is left to fend for himself. Ivan doesn't get the same type of joy from doing the same things normal kids do. The only thing on his mind is getting vengeance. At first, the Russian military rejects the idea of letting him do missions for them at such a young age. But later, they realize that Ivan is useful, and that they must give him the chance to get his vengeance.

Tarkovsky's dream sequences in this movie are in my opinion, the greatest ever made.
Ivan's Childhood opens up with an eery dream sequence of a young boy flying.
Ivan's Childhood - Opening
Tarkovsky uses his own childhood memories and dreams to form this scene. You can noticeably see Ivan's innocence in the scene, and possibly even recall your own memories.

Later in the film, Ivan has a flashback of a time his sister and he road on a wagon. It again, makes you think of your own childhood memories. The people you knew and loved, some of which are not around anymore.

Ivan's Childhood - Sister Flashback
I firmly believe this scene is the greatest in cinema history. Now believe me, I thought of many others when making this decision. It beat out "The Red Shoes" ballet dance, The underwater scene in "L'Atalante", the ending scene of "La Strada", the ending sequence where antoine doinel escapes the jail and runs to the beach,  and the kissing scene by the lake in Vertigo along with many more.

The scene says so much about life itself. We all take for granted the time we have with our families. Our existences aren't that long even though at times it seems like days can never end. We don't appreciate these little people or these little memories until it's too late.

Do you remember the greatest memory of your life?

I was around ten years old at an Indians game with my grandpa and father. Grandpa loved to heckle the players and yell out on the field to them. I remember seeing my hero, Jim Thome belt a home run over the right field wall. The peanut man was screaming and the beer man must of made $20 off my dad.

The simple things can sometimes be the most important in life

Fast-forward ten years and my grandpa died of cancer. I was crushed. It was then I realized that these little memories are what life is all about.

So please..... Take your dad to a baseball game. Take your mom out to dinner.

We all don't have much time.....