A Learning Curve

'A penny for your thoughts' We used to say when we were children, and did not understand thoughts are private things, sustained by the pure light of the mind, hardly able to withdtsand the coarse light of the sun or the stained light of the moon. 'A penny for your thoughts, ' we said, because we thought everything was available to us, no barriers caused by wealth, no limitations from ignorance of the world. We gradually gained pieces of experience that pass for wisdom, mostly the wisdom of caution and hesitation... Now it all seems so obvious. We guard our thoughts, treasure them, hide them away. So many impulses hedge our thoughts: Will they die from exposure? Will they shock when revealed? Should they be censored? That is why only children think they can buy thoughts for pennies. The rest of us know: thoughts are priceless.