Vos lenger a blinder lebt, alts mer zet er.

Experience. The wisdom that enables us to recognise in an undesirable old acquaintance the folly that we have already embraced.

We have something in common, you and I. We have both experienced loss.

What kind of loss? The loss of innocence. The innocence that comes with believing the world is good or fair, that the world has a sense of justice or kindness. Perhaps you see the world as cruel now, to have allowed such a thing as the Slender Man to live and operate. Or perhaps, like me, you see the world as meaningless, a blank slate that we can mold to be whatever we wish.

But in the end, we have still lost something. Perhaps you lost in long ago, perhaps it was only yesterday.

We should mourn our innocence. Because it is dead and shall never return to us.

But we have something to replace it: experience. The experience that tells us when to run, when to fight, when to sleep, and when to stay awake. Sometimes our experience is incomplete, sometimes we make mistakes, but this only gives us more experience to use.

Each title of my post is in a foreign language. I hope you look them up, for they all say something different. Today's is Yiddish for "The longer a blind man lives, the more he sees."

We were all blind once. Now, we have eyes open to the world around us.

There's none so blind as they that won't see.

The Panopticon would have us blind again. They would blindfold us with lies about happiness and safety. Already, they are telling lies to Mr. Krug in an attempt to make him disbelieve in the Slender Man. And why? So that they might regain their innocence, so they may see the world again as good and fair?

It is a terrible thought, but understandable. Yet, we cannot go backwards, back towards that state of innocence.

Because our innocence is dead and we have killed it.