Friends, Fish, & The Future
As a parent, have you ever secretly thought to yourself that
maybe it was wrong of you to bring your children into a world
like ours? I have had that thought cross my mind fleetingly over
the years, particularly when I turn on the evening news, or read
the headlines of each day's newspaper. For a brief instant, I
wonder if it was selfish of me to give birth to a child who will
have to grow up in a world so scary and unpredictable.
I have been living in a prolonged version of one of those
moments for the past few weeks, as our nation recovers from the
disastrous attacks of September 11th, 2001. In a world where
such hatred and evil exists, how can the innocence of my
children fit in here?
My children are responsible for bringing me back to reality just
yesterday, as I watched them go on with their lives at a church
picnic we attended.
I saw my daughter make a new friend, and play arm-in-arm with
her for hours. They discovered things together, played
side-by-side, sang and ran and laughed together, and learned
from each other. Those two could have taught the world a lesson
about the importance of making new friends, and enjoying the
uniqueness of each individual.
My son also had something to teach our world yesterday - if you
don't see a solution to a problem, don't give up! Frustration
won't help, and neither will anger. Instead, use your
imagination to explore new ideas and find a way to make it work.
All this came from watching him progress from being bored, to
moping around in frustration, to catching a fish with a
contraption he pieced together from a styrofoam cup and a branch
he found on the ground. He was so proud of himself and showed
everyone what he did, even those he didn't know.
These are just two of the many reasons that I know parenting
isn't a selfish act. Today's children will be the adults of our
future, and they will be making friends AND finding solutions.
As we've heard many times, they will help to make the world a
better place. We shouldn't spend our days with our children
worrying about the bad things that could happen to them.
Instead, we should help them grow and experience all the good in
the world. We should help them to be a part of that goodness,
and to show them how to create more of it for the benefit of all.
Even more importantly, my children reminded me yesterday of the
need to go on with our daily lives. If we don't, we are giving
up and giving in. There is still many inventions for us to dream
up, and many friends that we just haven't met yet. It's time to
move forward, and to makes things better in the process.