Innocence is gone
She was told “Never think ill of anybody”
There was a girl once with such a bright smile that it had lit every corner of the world through which she wandered. And her laughter was like morning sunlight dancing on water, and the look in her eyes was unshakeable faith in humanity. She believed, with all her heart, that people are innately good and kindness would be everyone’s default setting. She was reared in a cozy and tender environment, shielded behind her mother’s loving words, “Never think ill of anybody”
For her, the world was a lovely place: where love flows both ways and people value each other. She strolled through life with open arms, trusting strangers, supposing everyone around her shared the same unadulterated intentions she did. She gave love freely, laughed without inhibition, and regarded life as one simple dance where everyone in it moved to the beat of the same drum. For her, joy was already sewn into the very fabric of existence, a birthright conferred on all.
Yet, life was ripening, its tapestry beginning to fray. She learned of those who wore masks, hid behind deceptions, and their actions did not mirror the goodness in which she believed. Gradually, she began to realize that kindness sometimes went unrewarded, trust sometimes betrayed. The pain crept into her heart like the drops of rain on a cold day, throwing the gentle perception she once saw in the world out of kilter.
Then comes the time when somebody hurts not her but those she loves. And this hurt goes so deep into her soul that she begins to feel a strange, unfamiliar rising bout of anger, which at first was a burning desire for revenge. She found herself wrestling with a thought she had never entertained before: revenge. She was torn in her thoughts as she listened, the echo of her mother’s words: “Think no ill, child.” But another voice, darker and persuasively louder, pushed at her-do something, get back what is yours, make those who have broken your kin pay.
The world that was once bright and warm to her eyes had become a battle in which all the bits of her innocence lay in fragments around her. She struggled against the torrent of emotions rushing through her mind: anger, hurt, and betrayal. But, illuminated by it all stood a faint glimmer of something else: her conscience. It spoke softly to her, urging her to stand by the values she had grown up learning, to decline the call to go for revenge, and let go of the bitterness blossoming within her heart.
The pain was the paradox of her. It was a battle in herself. She wanted to believe that if she were to do revenge then all this pain was going to be justified, and she would have powers in a world where all her existence is cheapened. She couldn’t but think that when she went after this path of vengeance, she was not going to gain but lose something beautiful: a part of herself that believed in good, placed hope beyond human perversions, and love beyond human indulgences.
She realized that this battle was her journey from innocence to wisdom. Life has shown her that the world is not always gentle, that not everyone abounds in love and compassion like she did. But she knew that her innocence did not need to be overshadowed by bitterness. It could be the birth of resilience instead. She could choose to guard her heart without it letting it harden inside. She could learn from the pains that have befallen her, but never let them consume her.
She was at a crossroads; a choice was before her, which would shape the person she would be. Innocence might be lost but in its place something even sterner — a mix of compassion with strength, wisdom, and forgiveness. She chose to rise above; not because it was easy but because that is how she would be true to herself.
Along the way, she learned that innocence does not necessarily translate to losing kindness. It was, rather, the ground upon which she built her strength, her compassion, and her resilience. Though she no longer became the girl who believed blindly in the goodness of others, she instead turned into a woman who trusted in the power of forgiveness and in choosing peace even when the heart aches for justice. And so she releases-not her beliefs, but the need to let pain define her, emerging with a newfound grace, carrying mother’s words like a lantern lit in a black world, still capable of hope and still capable of love.
