Cynics

I have always liked this aphorism by Oscar Wilde above the rest: “a cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.” Cynicism, I am afraid, is an exclusively adult attitude to life; a nasty outlook that sticks to the skin like grime. Children have a much cleaner perspective: they know everything about value, and nothing about price. That, I believe, is why they will often view a food treat as the greatest reward. The pleasure we get from food is so immediate that it precludes calculation.

This was confirmed by an anecdote relayed by one of my closest friends: she had recently begun a scheme for her four children to encourage them to help with household chores and every time one of them contributed to cleaning or tidying up, they got a section of a square filled in in the kitchen’s blackboard-painted wall. The goal was to get a set number of squares filled for a reward. Since she had just started the scheme, she thought she would give the kids something substantial as their first reward. Her youngest, Joanna, of card-making fame, then six, had her eye on a scooter, so my friend expected that to be her prize. When the day arrived and Joanna filled in her last square and my friend asked her what she wanted, Joanna’s face filled with a look of concentration. She was deep in consideration of her reward and after a few seconds, she revealed to her mother that she was struggling to decide whether to go for the scooter or for a Terry’s chocolate orange.