Pan
Pan
In the story of Peter Pan, Pan is ‘everything’: potential, possibility, youth, hope, vitality. He looks at the adult in his life, Hook, and sees an old, grouchy, judgmental figure that he does not wish to resemble. After all, Hook even has pieces missing - his arm has been taken by the Crocodile (Time) who readily waits to take the rest, when the time is right.
Both Pan and Hook are imperfect pictures of youth and age. Pan is ever-young, naive, ignorant. He has no adult to look up to, and certainly does not wish to grow up to be like the tyrannical and cantankerous Hook. In fact, Pan does not want to grow up at all - his aim in life is to lead the lost boys, a group of equally ignorant and naive youths whose home is a place that does not exist: Neverland.
These days it seems a virtue to be like Pan: forever young, forever partying, forever free of maturation and responsibility. It is a fantasy, a non-reality, that exists only as an idea in the mind of someone who does not want to grow up.
The Pan/Hook dynamic is an internal struggle, as well. As adults, we can look at youth and think: what hope does this generation have? They are so naive, so ignorant, they live in a fantasy. We can also look back on our own selves and see the progress that we (hopefully) have made towards responsible adulthood.
What young people need are adults to look up to - people who have wrestled with the gradual and difficult task of maturation: taking responsibility. This is the process of confronting the brutal reality, dealing with it and integrating it into who we are. That weathering leads to stable people of wisdom, able to withstand the storms - this is something that young people admire, look up to and want to emulate!
Those who don’t grow up end up living in their own fantasy world: a world of adult-infancy, who continue to believe that they can stay young forever, in some Neverland that does not exist.
Bible verses to reflect on:
Luke Swain
Head of Campus
