YOUTH

I read in a magazine that "the wonder of youth" is a prerequisite for all that is possible in life.

What are the main attributes of youth?

Learning. The absorption of knowledge of one's surroundings begins immediately after birth. The ability to begin to move around in one's environment is the next step. Then the acquisition of knowledge becomes standardized in each person's own culture. Trial and error is acceptable as a child.

Rebellion. Perhaps based on the lack of knowledge of how things really work, youth often rebels against the constraints of their parents or society norms. Many parents wait for their wild children to get their rebellious tendencies out of their system before they leave the nest.

Experimentation. Youth have less inhibitors when it comes to social norms, vices, alcohol, drugs, etc. Some scientifically inclined will just throw things together just to see what happens. Many times, they don't believe things cannot be done.

Dreamers. Youth more often than not have dreams about the paths they want their life to follow. A young child can dream to be a fireman or an astronaut. Through child's play, imagination is developed which later on can be formed into applied knowledge to solve problems.

Fear. Until a child grows up to see the world as it is, he or she can become trapped in the simplest of fears such as the dark, being left alone, etc. There is an emotional development to growing up and experiencing life which parallels the intellectual development in people.

A child can view the wide open world with wonder.

As people grow into adulthood, these attributes are reformed.
Learning becomes adult skill sets for one's employment or profession.
Rebellion becomes the desire to improve oneself's lot in life.
Experimentation gives way to standardized habits and behavior.
Dreams become more nostaglic as a daily routine becomes the norm.
Fear gives way to anxiety and emotional bouts triggered by certain stressful events, such as
marriage, a new job, a death in the family, an accident, or the birth of a child.

In some ways, the main characters in LOST held more true to the attributes of youth than the reformed ways of adulthood. This can reinforce the notion that the characters were actually children in the guise of "acting as adults" in a dream world.