In some cultures, respect is an intrinsic part of an everyday. It permeates every action, word, deed. Other cultures cannot spell the word. I think this imbalance is having a major impact on the stability of our world. Respect is taught to children. It is taught, it is not inherited. As is accountability. You show respect in order to teach respect. Particularly to children. Are you aware that by the age of three a child has developed a significant part of its moral make-up? It learns from what it sees. By three, a child’s values are established and it has garnered important life skills that will assist or hinder it on its journey to adulthood. That means children are to be treated with care. Some cultures currently do not understand this. Try to remember that the world you promote to a child is the world they will believe exists. It is not easy to change early impressions.
Every child that is abused or exploited is a child destroyed. Every childhood destroyed, is sacrilege. The value of the purity contained in the true experience of growing up should not be overlooked. The value of proper nurturing by parents should not be overlooked, either. The true experience for a child is about preserving the innocence for as long as you can. Importantly, preserving innocence is never about lying to a child. It is about protecting a child from the adult content of our world.
It is a serious failing that we have as many broken children on this planet as we do. Too many children have seen too much, too soon. For the particular crime of child abuse (emotional, physical, circumstantial or spiritual) – for it is a crime against Nature to damage a child – there is no absolution. Your karma and your end of days will teach you just how frowned upon cruelty to children is. Remember that in our time a childhood is short. That is how it is. Life moves quickly for us all. I see a problem in that there are no halcyon days for a great many children in this world of ours. In a world as adept as this we should not allow our governments to sidestep this issue. They must allocate more funding to social services. They must train more social workers and pay them properly to do the jobs that can make a difference to a child’s life. The world needs more volunteers who wish to heal hurt children. The warring nations of this world need to take accountability for destroying their own children with their pointless vendettas and stop blaming peacemakers for their lost youth. To teach hatred to a child is child abuse. Israel should think about that. Hamas should think about that. Syria should take note and Osama bin Laden’s lost followers should stop brainwashing themselves and martyring innocents.
I think the global community must be more concerned about what is going on in its front garden. A childhood can never be reclaimed. As such, each one should be treasured by the adults – us – for the sake of the small person who is learning its way in our big world and for the sake of the adult that that child will become. It is simple. If respect is not shown for you, for your innocence as a child, you will find it difficult as an adult to reconcile respect for yourself with an everyday. You will learn how to disrespect your inner child as an adult and this has dire consequences.
Assess yourself. Recognise that the wounded child in you demands respect. And yes, we all have one. If you missed a childhood or were not taught respect when you were younger then teach yourselves what it is now. Do this by watching others respect you. If others do not respect you, it is because they have seen no reason to do so. That is often hard to accept. If you care, accept it and give them reason. If you do not care, you are on the wrong planet. You will feel better for some respect. Perhaps it is most important to remember that it is necessary to nurture respect in yourself and others because it is fundamental to love. And without love, we cannot fix the broken children, or adults, in this world. The responsibility is ours.
C.J. Birch
C.J. Birch 