Being stuck in adolescence - that's a hell. 'Peter Pan' is a dystopia, and we forget that. Neverland is a bad place to be.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that remaining in childhood or adolescence is a negative state of being.
Ben Sasse's quote highlights the dangers of refusing to grow up and the pitfalls of stagnation in adolescence. While stories like 'Peter Pan' romanticize the idea of eternal youth, Sasse points out that living in a state of perpetual adolescence can lead to a disconnection from reality and personal growth, ultimately depicting Neverland as a dystopian existence rather than an idyllic one.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of personal growth during a graduation ceremony.
Among the responsibilities of each citizen in a participatory democracy is keeping ourselves sufficiently informed so that we can participate effectively, argue our positions honorably, and hopefully, forge sufficient consensus to understand each other and then to govern.
Becoming a reader grows our horizons, our appetite for the good, the true and the beautiful, and our empathy.
The health of our republic depends on shared principles like the First Amendment, but it is also built on the Teddy Roosevelt-like vigor of its citizens and local self-reliance.
Rising political tribalism, shamelessly exaggerating our opponents' claims or behavior, is leaving us vulnerable: No one loves America's internal fighting - and our increasingly siloed news consumption - more than Vladimir Putin.
Good history is good story-telling. And good story-telling demands empathy; it requires understanding different actors, differing motivations, competing goals.
I don't think that our Founders would believe that America could long prosper if the people were not readers.
The Bible is the Word of God in such a way that when the Bible speaks, God speaks.
I have no interest in romanticizing poor black people, having been one of them myself in our beloved hometown of Detroit.
That space the Evil One abstracted stood From his own evil, and for the time remained Stupidly good, of enmity disarmed, Of guile, of hate, of envy, of revenge .
War is the form nostalgia takes when men are hard-pressed to say something good about their country.
Only within yourself exists the other reality for which you long. I can give you nothing that has not already its being within yourself. I can throw open to you no picture gallery but your own soul.
When all the faces have been rejected and emptiness is left, you have found the original face. Emptiness is the original face. Zero is the ultimate experience. Nothingness - or more accurately NO-THINGNESS - is your original face.
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