A friend of mine, wrote and told me of an incident she had . She had gone to the library to work and while there a group of young children came in with a teacher.
They began to laugh and speak very loudly. They used profanity like it was the abcs. The teacher had very little control...the librarian didn't seem to be able to do anything. My friend said she saw fear in the adults. Fear. My friend stated she finally had to address them. First she tried to communicate to see what if any books they were going to read and they mothe******r'd her. But all of a sudden some energy washed over her and she said she became her mother's mother and whatever the tone was - they heard her and for a moment they stopped and listened to her. She gave them a book of paul laurence dunbar poems and she started to read. For a moment they listened.
She sent this little story to several of us, demanding that we stop being afraid of our children. That we risk communicating with them about manners and respect and decency. That we, as women, (but i believe men as well) have to start talking to the children in the streets or the parks or the restaurants, whereever.
That we have to risk taking a stand. Of not only talking, but doing.
It seems to me even if we learn and grown..if the generations that follow us, (and if you are a teenager a generation is already behind you) don't move beyond then we have done very little to really help the we of us...I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject and maybe some ideas of things we can do...
peace and blessings
They began to laugh and speak very loudly. They used profanity like it was the abcs. The teacher had very little control...the librarian didn't seem to be able to do anything. My friend said she saw fear in the adults. Fear. My friend stated she finally had to address them. First she tried to communicate to see what if any books they were going to read and they mothe******r'd her. But all of a sudden some energy washed over her and she said she became her mother's mother and whatever the tone was - they heard her and for a moment they stopped and listened to her. She gave them a book of paul laurence dunbar poems and she started to read. For a moment they listened.
She sent this little story to several of us, demanding that we stop being afraid of our children. That we risk communicating with them about manners and respect and decency. That we, as women, (but i believe men as well) have to start talking to the children in the streets or the parks or the restaurants, whereever.
That we have to risk taking a stand. Of not only talking, but doing.
It seems to me even if we learn and grown..if the generations that follow us, (and if you are a teenager a generation is already behind you) don't move beyond then we have done very little to really help the we of us...I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject and maybe some ideas of things we can do...
peace and blessings