Nov 3, 2022
VOTE.
Inklings from Heart Space
What if it does take a village?
What if every individual in the community has a role to play?
What if children were absorbed into the family of creation and taught to see the value in all that they encounter? What if they learned first to thank the sun for its energizing force, and then to thank the moon for its power of reflection and its lessons about time and change, and then what if they were taught to thank the wind and the air and to be thankful for belly breaths and hearty laughter and sighs for when life feels hard or sad?
And then what if they were taught to climb trees and mountains so that they could see how much more there is to know of their world, and what if they were taught to swim and to float so that they could understand how to survive in deep water?
And what if they could learn to grow food and then to prepare it in celebration of the harvest? And what if they could learn the songs that connect them to the rhythms of the place they call home?
What if they could know the squirrels and the butterflies and the coyotes and the geese well enough to know that they are teachers, too?And what if they could learn to name the things in their world for themselves and be celebrated for thinking for themselves? What if they were guaranteed autonomy over their own bodies?
And what if they could tell the stories of what they learn and listen to the stories of others and take turns speaking and listening in a balance that brings wisdom and faith?
What if they could learn that kindness and gratitude are enough fuel for many seasons? What if schools decided that it is time to look again at what it is that children need to know if we are to survive to the seventh generation, if we are to honor our elders, if we are to take only what we need and to find limits to our desires and indulgences.
What if greed was incomprehensible and hoarding was a habit of banished kings?
What if it takes
all the good and brave hearts
in the village
to remake the world?
