The Importance of Monsters

Monsters are scary.

Think about the one that scared you the most when you were a child. Picture it now.

How did it scare you? What did it prevent you from doing or compel you to do?

Monsters are an important part of life. Of growing up. Of realizing your place in this world, and to learn how to navigate the big wide world that is reality safely.

Face it, kids are dumb. It’s not a knock its reality. What other creature will toddle to the edge of a cliff and walk right off? Or wander into a busy street with loud cars rushing by at breakneck speeds without a care in the world? Without the watchful eye (and rapid response) of adults who have survived such dangers (probably because of their elders’ watchful eyes and wise natures) kids would die.

Kids are innocent and naive and need adults to instill a healthy sense of necessary fear in them in order to keep them alive.

Until recently, there was a healthy fear of dangerous things imparted upon the little sponges that are the child's mind. Kids soak up knowledge from the adults in their lives- whether we think they are paying attention or not, they are always listening and watching. Recently, I’m afraid, kids have lost much of the healthy and fundamental fear that was a mainstay, which has led to society being in the shape it’s currently in. Let me explain.

Kids have a natural curiosity which leads them wherever it seems interesting. When you live in a boring meadow surrounded by woods, well, the woods are intriguing and the child will venture there, ever closer, ever deeper. Before long, the child is lost in the deep, dark woods. So, to combat this, the adults created scary stories about monsters in the woods.

Guess what? It worked! That kept the kiddos out. And most adults!

For centuries there were monsters for every scenario where a child might get damaged, hurt or dead. For instance: the boogeyman who came in the night to eat kids who stayed up late. Sure, staying up late is not detrimental to one’s life in and of itself. But when you have a sleep deprived kid and dangerous farm machinery the next day, well, you can see why a late night monster is not a bad thing.

Or the ghoul that disguises itself as a cute kid or animal and lures you down a dark alley or an abandoned area where it then reveals itself in it’s true form and devours you alive. This one is a good scary tale to secure some “don’t talk to strangers” and "don't get into cars with those you don't know" knowledge deep into the child's subconscious.

Scary, frightful images which sear into the brain with far more effectiveness than simple words and warnings.

There are countless monster stories of this sort found in every culture and part of the world. The problem is modern society has dumbed down these scary imagings or erased them altogether.

“There’s no such thing as monsters” has been uttered in the latter part of last century so many times that no-ones scared of anything. And that is a very scary thing indeed.

Without looking outward, and believing in something bigger than oneself, one becomes the center of their universe. Which in turn causes the growing brain to believe it is untouchable, why would it not? If theres nothing to fear, life is infinite and you can do what you want without fear or repercussion. ~ Sound familiar? If it doesn't you must be on a news fast.

“There’s no such thing as monsters” is not even a true statement.

There are countless monsters among us. Preying on us all.

Child predators, human traffickers, drug pushers, domestic abusers, murderers… the list is exhaustive. The problem is they don't look as scary as the monsters of old. They usually seem normal, attractive even sometimes, but they are just as dangerous and even more lethal.

But can it be said that the moment the folktale style monsters started losing their power in the child's mind is when the human monsters started gaining their power?