We may not see how other people’s children affect our lives now, but we will in the future if we haven’t already. Others people’s children are the people that will be interacting with our children and having relationships with them; they will be running our country and serving our community. So if we ignore the problems of others and don’t think we will be affected by them, then we are greatly mistaken. If we want to ensure the well being of our children and their futures we need to do what we can to improve the lives of others. We should be leading by example for not only our children, but all children. If we make the effort to show them how important it is to help others then someday we can hope they will follow our lead.
We tend to take for granted all that we have and forget that there are so many people out there that don’t have the common everyday things that give us security such as: healthcare, insurance, homes, and food for dinner. Our society is so self centered at times, causing many of us to grow up thinking only about our own needs. Cynicism plays into this as well. We are told things like, we have to look out for number one because if you don’t no one else will, we should be independent and not rely on others for help, we need to watch our backs because you never know who you can trust. When we grow up in a world that is constantly feeding us these warnings its hard not to focus mainly on ourselves, but it’s easy to ignore the problems of others.
When these kids that grow up in less favorable situations see that other people who aren’t their parents care about them and want to see them succeed, this might provide them with a new found hope and motivation to improve their lives. They might realize that things can be different for them. It restores their faith in mankind and hopefully empowers them to one-day reach out a hand to someone else in need.
When asking a friend about this they basically had the reaction of, “Well what can I do about that, I don’t have the money or resources to help take care of another person’s kid.” I explained that no one is asking you to do that. I also said that it’s not as difficult as one might think. There are so many simple things a person can do that will make a difference, and that volunteering your time and talents can be just as effective as donating money or goods. There is always something someone can do no matter what their economic status is.
We tend to take for granted all that we have and forget that there are so many people out there that don’t have the common everyday things that give us security such as: healthcare, insurance, homes, and food for dinner. Our society is so self centered at times, causing many of us to grow up thinking only about our own needs. Cynicism plays into this as well. We are told things like, we have to look out for number one because if you don’t no one else will, we should be independent and not rely on others for help, we need to watch our backs because you never know who you can trust. When we grow up in a world that is constantly feeding us these warnings its hard not to focus mainly on ourselves, but it’s easy to ignore the problems of others.
When these kids that grow up in less favorable situations see that other people who aren’t their parents care about them and want to see them succeed, this might provide them with a new found hope and motivation to improve their lives. They might realize that things can be different for them. It restores their faith in mankind and hopefully empowers them to one-day reach out a hand to someone else in need.
When asking a friend about this they basically had the reaction of, “Well what can I do about that, I don’t have the money or resources to help take care of another person’s kid.” I explained that no one is asking you to do that. I also said that it’s not as difficult as one might think. There are so many simple things a person can do that will make a difference, and that volunteering your time and talents can be just as effective as donating money or goods. There is always something someone can do no matter what their economic status is.
Angela I agree completely with what you say about leading by example. We should be setting an example for every child we come into contact with (not to mention the adults). These children are all part of the future and will largely decide what will become of society. By our example we can hope to give that decision a more pleasant outcome.
ReplyDeleteAs a future teacher, I feel that I MUST think of the children of the future. These children will include not only my own, but the future students of my classroom. However, educators and future educators should not be the only ones concerned with the future of our children. You are right when you say that these children are the future of our country. They will be running our country, finding cures for cancer, serving our community, so shouldn't we be setting the stage for them to do the best they can do at all of these activities?
ReplyDeleteEven though we live in a cynical world, you are right, we need to be role models for the children in the next generations. We need to reach out and help them, even if they are not our own. We simply need to lend a hand (much like your picture).