I have a niece who is 7 years younger than me. When she was 10, she brought home a dead sparrow from school and asked me if I could help her bury it at the backyard.
I didn't care much for a bird anymore than a dead bird, so I scolded her for making so much fuss over the creature. She told me that the sparrow was hit by a ceiling fan in the classroom and that she had skipped lunch to make sure the sparrow was okay. Since the sparrow died anyway, she brought it to me so I could help her prepare a proper burial for the dead sparrow.
I told her that it was just a stupid bird, and that she should have thrown it away in some trash can. My niece nearly burst into tears telling me that the kids in her class only laughed when they saw the sparrow falling onto the floor. The teacher was worse - she only kept screaming hysterically upon looking at the dying bird on the classroom floor. No one had helped my niece nurse the sparrow during lunch break. And now that the sparrow had died, my niece thought it would be appropriate to let the sparrow rest in dignity after being humiliated and neglected by the other kids the whole day.
I somehow imagined myself being in the sparrow's place as I listened to my niece at that time. So I helped her build a tiny memorial for the sparrow, and promised her I would look after it when she goes to school. I still keep her promise till now.
If young children could show kindness and respect to other living creature, then why can't we do the same thing? Perhaps if everyone cared to think about other living beings, ugly words like "homicide" and "genocide" would be alien to our ears.
I didn't care much for a bird anymore than a dead bird, so I scolded her for making so much fuss over the creature. She told me that the sparrow was hit by a ceiling fan in the classroom and that she had skipped lunch to make sure the sparrow was okay. Since the sparrow died anyway, she brought it to me so I could help her prepare a proper burial for the dead sparrow.
I told her that it was just a stupid bird, and that she should have thrown it away in some trash can. My niece nearly burst into tears telling me that the kids in her class only laughed when they saw the sparrow falling onto the floor. The teacher was worse - she only kept screaming hysterically upon looking at the dying bird on the classroom floor. No one had helped my niece nurse the sparrow during lunch break. And now that the sparrow had died, my niece thought it would be appropriate to let the sparrow rest in dignity after being humiliated and neglected by the other kids the whole day.
I somehow imagined myself being in the sparrow's place as I listened to my niece at that time. So I helped her build a tiny memorial for the sparrow, and promised her I would look after it when she goes to school. I still keep her promise till now.
If young children could show kindness and respect to other living creature, then why can't we do the same thing? Perhaps if everyone cared to think about other living beings, ugly words like "homicide" and "genocide" would be alien to our ears.
JOHN MAYER'S "WAITING FOR THE WORLD TO CHANGE" is playing in my mind today.
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