Peter Pan launches Neverland 2.0Childhood, once just a fleeting life stage is now available as a lifestyle choice but at what cost? A new book ‘Leaving Neverland’ (Why Little Boys Shouldn’t Run Big Corporations) delightfully skewers perpetual boys and offers a timely solution
By: Continuum Media 
"Leaving Neverland' front cover "In a desperate attempt to stay young forever we have achieved eternal childishness, rather than eternal youth." Unfortunately we live in an adolescent society, Neverland, where never growing up, never taking responsibility and never thinking of others seems more the norm than the exception. I asked adults "When are you going to grow up?" and the overwhelming response was 'Never.' It was a bit scary. ‘Peter Pan’ was written in 1906 by James Barrie as a fantasy story for children, it was never meant to be a blueprint for social development. Whilst “lost boys” abound, there is an alarming increase in the number of “lost girls.” Mankind has slowly become Pankind. Little boys were left to play with big toys in a warm bathtub called the Gulf of Mexico. Even though the water was way, way over their heads the boys said that they didn’t need supervision. They boasted that their expensive toys were so safe that they were happy to bet the lives of their workers on them. Unfortunately their biggest toy caught fire and sank to the bottom of the tub. It cost 11 men their lives and spewed 4.9 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The oily ring on the tub may never come off. The Global Financial Crisis was proudly brought to us by different little boys behaving the same way. They convinced authorities that they were responsible enough to be put in charge of the banking cookie jar. Of course they helped themselves to our cookies because “self regulation” to a child means “quick, grab as many cookies as you can and hope you don’t get caught.” The only real surprise is that people are surprised at the empty jar. The IMF estimates that the total cost to put the cookie jar back in order is over $US4 trillion dollars (that’s a lot of cookies). We have created a world where growing up: taking responsibility for ones actions and feelings, thinking of others, deferring gratification and sharing power is seen as bad, weak, stupid and career limiting. But if there are no adults in charge then who will take responsibility for protecting the environment, for ensuring a fair and equitable financial system, for keeping people safe, for helping those not able to help themselves, for making our communities strong? Oh… The great news is that finally, finally people are saying ‘Enough already’ to the boys wearing adult bodies who think only of themselves. Across North Africa, in Spain, the UK, Wisconsin, Michigan and Florida people are standing peacefully together and saying “Just put the jar down and back away from our cookies.” It is very exciting and the courage of so many people standing together often in the face of violence and tyranny is inspiring. In humans there is no hard wired physiological link between physical maturation and mental maturation, e.g. the body of a boy will become the body of a fully grown man even if the mental shift from boy to healthy manhood never takes place. Growing older is still inevitable but growing up is now a not very popular optional extra. How can something so fundamental as growing up emotionally be optional? Because we humans are a pack animal and the vital link between body growth and growing up emotionally was once provided by strong communities and Rites of Passage. “…some things that should not have been forgotten were lost.” J.R.R. Tolkien. Rites of Passage are supported events or ceremonies that mark the transition from one life stage to another e.g. man to father, woman to mother, child to young adult, older to elder, single to married. The Rite of Passage from child to young adult was the one that traditional societies spent more time and energy on than any other aspect of village life and this was back when there was an entire village to raise the children. We can contemporize Rites of Passage and make them available in every school to create a mass Neverland exit because the other good news is this: we can leave Neverland any time we want, the gates are never locked, we just have to want to leave. “Behind every preventable threat to the future of the human race lurks a boy in a man's body with both his hands buried deep in the cookie jar set aside for future generations.” # # # Promotion of contemporary Rites of Passage as a way out of Neverland via the new book - 'Leaving Neverland' (Why Little Boys Shouldn't Run Big Corporations) Photo: https://www.prlog.org/ End
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