MIC CHECK 1-2: REALITY FACT - A child's sight shapes his/her desire

Ever since I was a child I have been awe-struck by the beauty of dreadlocks, so unsurprisingly this piece of 3-dimensional art, made with real dreadlocks, by Artist, Patreece Lewis, had me doing head-spins, eye-flips and gave me some heart palpitations. Yeah, I'll admit, I had to pray off some delicious thoughts upon first glance at this fine specimen. LOL! But I'm ok now. Ha!

It was quite funny to me that I had such a strong reaction upon opening up my neatly packaged dreadlocked work of art, which I had received in the mail. The thoughts of 'finally having some dreads' brought on more a sense of joy than actual sexual sensations ...but the sexual reaction was there, nonetheless (TMI, I know, but bear with me while I bring it home...and STOP thinking dem nasty thoughts!).

Now those who know me, know that the little girl in love with dreads grew up to marry a bald head (Oh, I can hear Bob Marley singing this one...). I am also now a grown woman given to extreme tastes when it comes to preferences for my man's hairline, so there's none of that sense that I 'settled' for my Husband's shiny dome (just ta let y'all know). In FACT, my Husband is quite a fine specimen, himself, and what he lacks in dreads, well...we won't go there, since kids might read this... ;-)

Anyhooo...my point...the experience of reacting the way I did reminded me so well of the long-lasting affects of visual stimulation upon a child's mind. It is established FACT that human beings are visual creatures. Our first encounters of the world are totally sensory. And our vision plays a major role, more so than any of our other senses, in receiving data about the world around us, and our own role in that world. Children are imitators. They repeat with action what they see and hear. And not only do they imitate, children also develop their own thought patterns on what they see and experience of the world around them. Their thought patterns help shape their beliefs. Their beliefs determine how they will think, feel, speak and interact with others and their world.

When I was 8 years-old I was taking a walk, alone, along the bank of the river that flowed at the rear of my neighborhood. To my surprise I came upon four, or so, dreadlocked men bathing in the river. Not an entirely unusual past-time for my Caribbean home, and not a strange sight to me. In FACT I was very much use to seeing men, women and children at all levels of nakedness bathe in the many waters of my island, and had done the same, quite innocently, as a child of the sun. But somehow the combination of the naked skin of these men, and the way their extremely long dreadlocks hung about them, and cascaded unto their backs as they rose from a dip in the water, aroused my sexuality at that youthful age. Since then, I have held a strong fascination with dreadlocks.

Now, as I said, I married a bald head, so it wasn't like this experience, or my mesmerization with dreads led to an inevitable union with a dread-locked man. In FACT, as I grew older, and matured, so did my 'taste' in men and what I found attractive about men. Yet still, here I was, a grown and married woman, salivating (just a little) on memories of those fine Rastamen whose hair led to the love and appreciation of the beauty of dreadlocks, and my purchase of this piece of art. Amazing the long-lasting power of just one visual experience...

So, why is it, I wonder, we are feeding our children these types of nonsensical visual palette on a continuous basis? What are we trying to get them to see, to think, to believe, to act out?