i gleaned three things from the digest that stood out to me.
1. going backwards, the first was posted by diane:
<<*But* I think what you really have to teach them first is the attitude of
acceptance for something different. It translates so well for everything
they haven't yet experienced, and for things they have difficulty
transcending....like race issues, politcal reasonings, foods, and parents.
Discovery is a cool spray on a hot day, but the willingness to see from a
different perspective is a hard lesson learned.
yesterday my 11 son got a phone call from a friend at school. six of them
were meeting at the movie theater at 3pm. so i told him i'd take him. the
kids were outside the theater waiting for him. three black and three white.
and i was really proud because i rememer very well the decision process my
wife and i went through six years ago about public schools. in savannah,
there is a great divide. the public school system is 90% black. the private
schools are 90% white. we chose the public schools. yesterday, six years
later, i really really like what i saw.
2. the second was by mg.
<<It's not telling them WHAT to see, it's shining a light on what else might
be
there.
i think you surmised marcel's point exactly. and i think doing this, shining
a light, is exactly what we have to do. it broadens their understanding and
helps keep them safe until they mature. like maybe on the beach we might
teach them to turn over the star fish to see the underside, but teach them
not to touch the jelly fish.
3. the third was by vince
<<But I do know this: every time we condemn the kids and knock the music
of today as opposed to the better music of our youth, we are saying the
same things that our parents said about us, and it was/is wrong both
times.
very well said. my father would never have been able to appreciate or
understand the same depth i felt the first time i heard....almost cut my
hair. now, he's felt deeply. and i believe he's helped me to see things in
the world that help me feel deeply. but in this particular area, long hair
and paranoia and police cars, i've gone off on my own direction to a place he
wouldn't understand. it was not of his world.
which makes me think that at some point, no matter how much light we shine
for our children, ultimately a time will come when they will make all their
own decisions.
patrick
np. silence
