C.J. Birch

Would you expect peace in Utopia?  Would you assume it to be a wholly peaceful place?  I think it is better never to assume anything, no matter how well you may have convinced yourself that you know what is best in a particular situation.  There is always someone who knows better than you do.  I have learnt that lesson in life and I trust its consistency.  The trick is to find that person.  Does Utopia – or Elysium, Heaven, a harem of 1000 virgins, Paradise, etc – exist for you?  Even just in your dreams?  Does it mean to you perfect, or does it mean ideal?  You need to define these things for yourself before you can set about finding yours.  That yours is the same as mine – or the next person’s – is a possibility, but this is doubtful in a world this self sufficient.  We each have a private ideal, a personal state of perfection that we (ought) to be striving towards.  It depends on how you view perfection as to how your Utopian odyssey will unfold.  Your journey is ongoing, you will find yourself there, in time.  It just takes time.

The way to peace is to educate.  Ask Malala Yousafzai, support her cause with $10 a month if you do not yet do anything for your world.  What is $10 worth in your world?  Encourage your children to support a worthy cause – let them learn the value of compassion.  Teach them that it is important to give something back when you have more than others do and teach them this through your example.  It is more and more apparent in these everydays that our children are very capable of understanding the meaning behind an action, a behaviour – i.e. a motivation.  Do not take from them this facility.  Nourish it, them.  Let them learn empathy, through affection.  It will get them far in life.

In pursuit of peace (and quiet) it is your responsibility as an adult to demonstrate your true nature in front of children.  They see straight through an act and besides, they learn assertion.  Let them read your truth because this is how you show a child respect for their time.  Their assessment.  Letting them know your weaknesses as well as your strengths is not a failure, it is a clued-up move.  Apologise when you shout, curse.  Explain if you cry.  If you curse under your breath, that counts.  Saying sorry says hey – it is human to make mistakes.  Life is dramatic – there is no getting away from that reality.  If you think it is not then you need to open your eyes and notice for once (in a very long while) its colour.  Colour brings pain, mind you.  Moderate that pain.  It is vital for children to realise through your demonstration the real of this world we live in.  It is an exercise in strengthening, stretching their emotional intelligence.  Please recognise a child’s emotional intelligence when you spot it.  The more equipped children are to handle themselves (in any situation that presents itself), the more stable their end life-view is going to be.  Children do not think in infinities.  They need an end view that is stable – whatever that stability entails.  Theirs’ can be surprisingly flexible, their stability – it depends what keeps them happy.  Children have extraordinary capacity and they will instinctively stretch themselves.  Let them.  What is necessary to know is that it is essential that a child develops a life-view that perpetually fires up new synapses with excitement.  Children should laugh a lot and they should be shown a great deal in their lives, as well as a good example.  If you cannot show them a good example – you will need to trust that your child will role-model on the dominant adult in the vicinity who sets best that example.  An example.  If you cannot trust that your child will know right from wrong, then you have a problem.

And if you do not know who Malala Yousafzai is, perhaps you should.  She deserves a Nobel Peace Prize one day.