Did a child give you permission?

Colleagues,

I was at a concert on Saturday (Freeway Jubilee – they were really good). This was a daytime event and there were a lot of families and so there were a lot of children.
 
The show wasn’t crowded and there was lots of room for the young ones to run around, which they did. For hours. Because that’s what children do.
 
Towards the end of the show, a particularly energetic group of kids was playing soccer with a beachball while another group was running across the lawn doing cartwheels and handsprings.
 
At this point something interesting happened. 
 
Adults began playing too. Not many, but a couple of them. And for every adult that did play, it was obvious that there were many more who wanted to but, for whatever reason, couldn’t. That desire to run and laugh with carefree abandon was so evident on so many faces.
 
Why?
 
Why do we need children’s permission to play?
 
Why do we hold back?
 
I wonder…
 
As leaders, could you and I be like children?
 
Could we play and laugh without permission? Perhaps more importantly, could we be like children and give others permission to play too?
 
I think we can.
 
I think we must, especially now.
 
Cheers!
 
Frederick