Dear Grownups,
You are under
surveillance. This might come as a shock
to you, but it's a surveillance of the most clandestine sort. You might be aware of it sometimes, but even
then you do not fully understand how intensely interested and sensitive those
watching you are to your every move.
They study and adopt your mannerisms, figures of speech, character flaws
and strengths.
Of course, I'm
talking about the PCs of the world. [For
the uninitiated, PC is precious child.]
Do you know how they watch you?
Do you know the way that you speak to each other, close doors, listen to
music and eat spaghetti is received by them in some mysterious process of
social osmosis? Every day you spend with
them or don't spend with them, you are declaring loudly and clearly what is
important. Don't think they're too busy
playing to notice.
Do you value
books? They know. Do you really believe all men were created
equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights? They know whether you do or not. Are you a hypocrite? Even if you have yourself and everyone else
fooled, it is likely they know the truth.
Do you really believe the best things in life can't be bought? They could tell me what you believe.
You are shaping the
fate of a generation by the way you use your fork. You are affecting the future of diplomacy in
the way you write thank you notes. You
are holding back the tide of war by resolving conflicts with grace instead of
grudges. You are raising the dreamers
and the doers who will own the world in twenty years.
There is a choice to
be made, grownups. You have the power to
be the hero or the villain. An important
distinction to make between comic book heroes and those that live in the grown
up world is comic book heroes seldom make mistakes. Grown up heroes make mistakes all the
time. You will not be able to make every
one of a child's Christmas dreams come true.
You will lose patience. You will
walk past the old woman who dropped her bag of apples on the ground. Here I am on my knees begging for you to use
those teachable moments. Apologize to
them. Tell them you were wrong. Ask their forgiveness. Show them what reconciliation looks
like.
As for being the
villain, don't. Don't you dare give my
precious children a verbal scourging and think nothing of it. Don't you dare make them feel as if they are
an inconvenience or as if they don't matter.
Do not put in ruins a life that you have been given to build up and make
beautiful.
This is directed
towards grownups, not parents. If you
are 18, you count. Children put great
stock in what you say and how you say it.
They see you as their heroes until you prove them wrong. Don't give them reason to doubt. You will not be perfect, I guarantee it. That is immaterial. Apologize well. Teach them about what matters. Show them what growth looks like.
I am often on my
face asking God to work in the hearts of these little people, both here and
around the world. I suggest you join
me. As I sit writing this, my eyes get
wet with the love God has given me for them and the heartbreak some of them are
experiencing right now. Please, grown
ups, take care of the children in your lives.
They. Are. So.
Precious.
Little Miss Sunshine
I read this book a few years ago and it transformed the way I see children. You will weep, but it is worth it.