As an eighty-year-old man, I reflect and write a lot. I so often yearn for the transparency, honesty, and straightforwardness that were part of my earlier decades and have now vanished from the world.
Humour, genuine laughter and mirth have also been submerged in the boghole of straitened expectation and serious, monitored workplaces.
I feel for you. I understand it fully too. Even within the structures of boarding prep: school in the 1970s we had enormous lassitude for adventure, risk taking, learning for ourselves, making mistakes and learning from it. Now everything is micromanaged and closely planned and supervised by all-seeing adults.
Thank you