I must admit that I am having a very difficult time with the results of this election. It has saddened, devastated and challenged me on so many levels. I have heard so many comments from the TV to my own community about what do we tell children now. I have heard some responses that parents have chosen to assure their children and to reinforce their human values that they continuously and consistently teach and monitor every day. Throughout this election period, I have been astonished by the lack of human decency on the part of Donald Trump. I raised a son with disabilities and was appalled when I witnessed his imitation of a person with disabilities. I cried and I prayed and I hoped that America would rise above all this and choose differently.
This didn’t happen and the last couple of days have rocked my inner world and have only reinforced my belief that we must raise a new generation of children who are emotionally intelligent. Children who are empathetic and accept differences, make the choice to respect themselves and act in a positive and understanding manner, commit themselves to service learning how to meet other’s needs before their own feeling the joy when they do, learn how to manage their responses and respond with kindness and words spoken from the heart, experience forgiveness and being accountable for their actions, see and feel that their playmates are their buddies and deserve respect and compassion and feel the hope that is generated when being in connection with others no matter what their color, and are able to meet life’s challenges with appreciation and gratitude for who they are and what they have. This is how we must raise our young minds and souls. What will this country look like if we don’t?
This has revealed the hurt and pain of so many and their lack of understanding that to survive, thrive and succeed, it is not at the survival of the fittest, the loudest or the richest. It has revealed how far we have gone astray of respecting the voices and actions of others that remain kind, generous and heart driven. It has revealed the underlying darkness that simmers in our country because we have neglected the social and emotional well-being of our citizens as a priority and focused on the material values and it’s so called virtue.
Is it, what do we tell our children? Or is it more importantly, how will we model for our children. The response to darkness for me has always been to shed light on it by initiating positive responses, kind and generous acts and remembering that each of us can make a difference each and every day. Children do what you do and say what you say. This is how they learn to be relational, to choose decency, to be generous and kind and listen to their hearts.
I have quoted Aristotle before but I think his wisdom is needed more than ever today.
Aristotle, a Greek philosopher, who lived from 384-322 BC stated, “Educating the mind without educating the heart, is no education at all”.