The Loss of Innocence

Reading the hymns to Demeter and Hermes made me realize something - most tragedy is built around the loss of innocence, and comedy seems to be built around the glorification of it. I am not a mother, but like everyone alive, I have one, and I can see her troubles at some of the things I and my siblings have done as we have grown up. I used to think it was us that she was angry with, but after takign a long glance at Demeter and her troubles with her daughter, I realized that it was not so much what we had done as what we did was implying - that we were growing older and by doing so losing childhood innocence.
Demeter mourns her child in much the same way. The young girl she raised and cherished is now lost to another forever and may only return on a strict time schedule. I have such incredible respect and sympathy for both Demeter and Persephone, although I'm sure they do not need it.