I used to believe...

Just been involved in a discussion elsewhere on the Internet about things we used to believe in when we were kids. Here's selection:

When I was in kindergarten and my sister was in second grade, we found a worm in the yard and put it in a cup of dirt to look at it. She claimed she could communicate with the worm through an elaborate series of head movements. She promised me that I too would be taught this language in second grade. Second grade came. Every day I waited for my teacher to get in front of the class and say "Attention everyone! We're not having math today, kids, because we'll be learning worm language. "Every day I thought, "This has to be the worm language day." The day never came.

I used to believe in localised elements of anti gravity, and that if you jumped up a second time while already in the air, you could achieve something that only seemed possible in some early computer games and kung fu films, the ability not to come back to earth but to actual stand on nothingness and attain an even higher level in the air. Maybe there was something in those 70's sweets or it was the Vimto?

When I was about four, my uncle told me that when white babies die they go to heaven, get wings and become cherubs. He also told me that when black babies die, they go to heaven, get given wings and become bats. I beleived that was what bats are for a good few years.

We had a couple of glass birds knick-knacks. My grandma used to keep one in her hands and, without moving her lips, chirp. She made me believe it was the glass bird that chirped when cuddled. I also took it in my hand and she chirped, and I thought it was the bird. Also from my home the window of a canteen down the road could be seen. For some reason, from this canteen glowed a red light in the night, and they had elaborate iron bars in front. So, when there was a storm and I was 4 or 5, my grandma said "You hear the thunder? You see the red glow? It's the devil beating his wife tonight!" -And I thought the devil was there, slapping his wife (I always wondered why he had to slap his wife, by the way). I also used to think that when actors died in the movies, they really died. I thought they were people paid to die in the movies. I was puzzled that someone decides to give away life to be in a movie, but for some reason I was very convinced of that.

So actors don't die in reality when they die in a film? I can watch Bambi without worry now. Not so keen on What Dreams May Come with Robin Williams anymore though.