Living in Never Land

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I won’t grow up

I don’t wanna go to school

Just learn to be a parrot

And recite a silly rule

If growing up means

It would be beneath my dignity to climb a tree,

I’ll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up

Not me!

Not I,

Not me!

Not me!

I won’t grow up

I don’t wanna wear a tie.

And a serious expression

In the middle of July.

And if it means I must prepare

To shoulder burdens with a worried air,

I’ll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up

Not me

Not I,

Not me!

So there!

Never gonna be a man,

I won’t!

Like to see somebody try

And make me.

Anyone who wants to try

And make me turn into a man,

Catch me if you can.

I won’t grow up.

Not a penny will I pinch.

I will never grow a mustache,

Or a fraction of an inch.

‘Cause growing up is awfuller

Than all the awful things that ever were.

I’ll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up,

No sir,

Not I,

Not me,

So there!

I won’t grow up!

I will never even try

I will do what Peter tells me

And I’ll never ask him why

We won’t grow up!

We will never grow a day

And if someone tries to make it

We will simply run away.

I won’t grow up!

No, I promise that I won’t

I will stay a boy forever

And be banished if I don’t.

And Never Land will always be

The home of beauty and joy

And neverty

I’ll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up

Not me!

Not me!

Not me!

Not me!

No sir!

Not me!

Do you remember when you were young, when you couldn’t wait to grow up and make your own rules, live your own life?  Do you remember when you willingly ate ramon noodles and drove a junker car just so that you could afford rent and be the king of your own castle?  Do you remember the nervous excitement you felt as you embarked on adulthood – your determination to prove to your parents and the world that your were ready to shoulder the mantle of adult responsibility?  Do you remember when you embraced adulthood?

For generations children have aspired, almost from infancy, to achieve the coveted status of adulthood.  From the time they can crawl, they want to walk – when they can walk, they want to run.  An independent and self-reliant spirit seems to be ingrained in their very being.  In past generations, this independence and self-reliance was encouraged from every corner.  Parents required chores at an early age.  Teachers demanded a disciplined demeanor and rigorous academic acumen.  While still children they were being prepared to shoulder the responsibilities of society.  They were being trained to succeed, flourish even, in a future of their own making.  Their daily life prepared them for all that life would require of them.  It prepared them to build, to lead, to govern. 

That was then.  Now, in modern day America, we live in Never Land.  Our children don’t want to grow up, but even worse, our parent, our teachers and our leaders don’t want to grow up.  We want to live in a perpetual state of childhood, where all of our needs are anticipated and met by someone other than ourselves.  We want to be coddled and fed and told what to do.  We want someone else to be responsible for us when we’ve made bad decisions and we want to be bailed out when we experience the consequences of riotous living.  We don’t want to have to suffer or work or struggle.  And when it comes right down to it, we are more than willing to “Do what Peter tells us – and never ask him why” in exchange for never growing up.  America has become a nation of “Lost Boys”.

Although Disney would have us believe that Peter Pan was a charming, fun-loving, altruistic boy, the truth is that he stole children from their families, used them in his own social experiments and then killed them when their population threatened to overrun his island.  How charming is that? 

And that, my friends, is where America is heading – to Never Land.  If we refuse to grow up, refuse to suffer, to work or to struggle, we will forever be living in Never Land. We will be the Lost Boys – never to experience the exhilaration of adulthood, the joy of responsibility or the incalculable power of freedom.

America is a country designed for adults.  Are we up to the challenge, or are we Lost Boys living in Never land?