Little video Marlon R. Trujillo put together the day we assembled his dorito machine. When I was a kid, I day dreamed a lot about being a smurf. I had no idea why, I was just drawn to their village and felt like I could totally fit in. When I became an adult and shared this information with some of my friends, most of them systematically and deliberately laughed at the eccentric idea.
Aside from the inoffensive mockery, I also got different theories and comments on the subject matter. I did get a lot of "You would have been grouchy smurf" from family members, and my naughty male friends even gave me the classic and predictable version by which I would have been Smurfette, the slut of the village.
They must be the ones laughing the most at this post, I am sure. All these various interpretations I found were highly amusing, but I distinctly remember this one friend laughing his pants off first, then asking with candor: But why? I paused and wondered for a split of a second: Indeed, why? As it turned out, I had just discovered yoga and the philosophy of oneness behind it, so excavating the real reason why came easy. What must have appealed to me back then, was that despite the fact they all looked and dressed the exact same, every single individual could be unambiguously themselves, having each something unique to contribute to the smurf society, while genuinely embracing other's differences.
They lived peacefully within a cooperative community and stood undivided in the face of aggression, not to mention that every difficult adventure always turned into a happy ending. And I was a confused child born in a war torn country.
I guess kids naturally believe in an ideal world that is united, unified, unaffected by differences, and our job as the bequeathers, of their legacy is to keep reminding them to never forget exactly that.
