How many times have we heard the phrase, “Children are our biggest asset.”? And how many times have we heard the phrase, “We are doing (fill in the blank) to protect the children.” ?
You know, when I started these notes a few short days ago, I suggested that I was a senior and therefore had a lot of experiences out of which to write.
Before I go much further I’d just like to say a couple things about the difference between saying something valid, and saying something that really matters.
In listening to my grandchildren (I have wonderful grandchildren and like to hear their thoughts on things)….I’m not talking about ‘overhearing them’ or having conversations like, “How’s school?” and some of the other ‘normal’ ways we talk to the younger folk. I’m talking about having a conversation that might challenge our ‘adult’ way of seeing things……with me so far?
Okay, so I was interested in how they perceived the part about us ‘protecting them.’ Specifically, I was asking about camera surveillance in school and some of the other things, like safety rules, we impose to protect them.
The short version of the answer I got was, “There seem to be a lot of things that adults fear, and the way they try to handle their fear is to say they are doing (fill in the blank) to protect the children.” Who can argue with the logic of looking after children? Except that it may not be so ‘logical’. What came out of the conversation was an added….”Adults make general rules to cover all youth, as if the young were too uninformed or helpless to have any part in the conversation.” Now, I may be putting a bit of an edge on this but I believe I got the message. It was something like, “C’mon, tell the truth.”
Listening to it as ‘us against them’ would be an immediate reaction. After all, we have all the power, and know better, and therefore…blah,blah,blah.
But if we look at it like they were pointing out an adult ‘blind spot’ then maybe it is important that we take a moment of reflection…..if we are filled with the need for rules to safe-guard all areas for the young, how much of our adult lives, including our participation on the global stage, is a basic reaction to fear in general?
Now, I’m not really going anywhere with this. But it might be a good exercise for us adults to stop for a minute, shut off all the distractions, stand in front of the mirror, and ask the person in the mirror, “Are you afraid?” “You are? Yeah, me too.”
When we are with our families it just might matter that we did that exercise.
Rich