14. Hearbeat of the Future
If ever you get disheartened as a public school teacher, here are some thoughts to re-inspire you. Whenever your “teacher’s hat” is feeling a bit heavy… remember to remember the heartbeat of the future.
What is a child?
“We are the future!”
Children carry the dormant seeds passed on through generations that will become the mighty forests of tomorrow. Some of those seeds are new. Some of them are very old.
A child is not yet this or that. They are happy being just who and what they are!
Children are receptacles, open cups, asking, seeking to be filled, to find, to participate, to boldly or quietly march into the great unknown… to be empty again the very next day.
What is a child?
A child inherently trusts, unless otherwise shown.
A child needs to be a little wild. Otherwise how can they find themselves at first? Behavior is contagious. Natural courtesy, kindness, consideration and care will grow in the child because Mom and Pop are genuinely that way.
Children are round pegs, sometimes made to fit in a square world.
What is a child?
A child is endowed with the most incredible gifts and natural genius!
Children don’t know or show their own gifts and abilities, inclinations and virtuosity until something happens that provides an ecology and a catalyst to spark them.
A child’s identity is in all that they are and all that they do, ever changing, ever evolving, not fixed or formed yet. Labels are for soup cans, not children.
What is a child?
A child is not yet set. They have not yet been heated and cooled, forged in the ‘fires’ of puberty. After puberty, a child is no longer a child.
A child is not ‘yours’ or ‘mine’ to possess. No. They are not the possession of anything or anyone. They are ‘ours’ to be cared for, loved and cherished for the fact of being a human life, and all that that means.
We don’t know what a child may be here to do. We don’t know what extraordinary gifts they may bring to the world. So… we can’t judge them, ever.
What is a child?
A child is not a commodity to be bred for economic gain.
A child may hold the keys to doorways we simply do not yet perceive.
A child is to be respected, not condescended to; held up, not held down; listened to, not talked at. A child is to be invited in, not pushed in. A child can be shown the consequences of their behavior, not punished. Every child simply wants to be included…
What is a child?
A child is the hope and the heartbeat of the future. Pause a moment, be still, listen from the inside… you can feel the pulse and promise of the future in them.
What is a child?
What are your thoughts on this?
~PAZ
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You can listen to and download the song Heartbeat of the Future here.