Children: Teachers we tend to ignore

In this journey through life -figuratively- and in this journey back to a life in Colombia -more specifically- there is a thermometer that helps us gauge the status of our situation and that won't lie in regards to it: children. In our case we have been able to see and live how our daughters try to make sense of the situation, get used to it, how they normally respond well to new challenges and how they trust us blindly when they are at a loss on what to do. These moments can make us feel quite powerful in their (and our) lives, as well as completely lost. Often times we ourselves do not know what to do, and tend to pretend it is not the case, or that we won't need help and can handle it on our own.


However, deep down we all now we often need help, we know we are interdependent and, as social animals, we wouldn't survive long both mentally and physically if forced to live isolated. Depending on our degree of personal maturity we are more or less able to reach out and ask for help, and tend to look only toward those we admire or trust as peers for support. In other words, we reach "up" to people we admire or depend on, we reach "out" to peers and people we trust, but rarely we reach "down" to people that depend on us, or that we consider somehow "inferior" in some sense, whether intellectual, financial, or other.

And is in this last group, when reaching "down", that exists a group that can teach us a lot and that we usually do not consider as such: children. Those little beings that completely depend on us, that we believe to be lost with out grown-ups, can give us valuable life lessons if we only do three things:

1. Listen to them

2. Believe in them

3. Give them our best.

Each person that has some kind of responsibility over a child, has responsibility over a world. And on that person's hands and acts lies the ability to create a better world. There is no room for excuses. There is no room for fear. Every day we neglect to give those children our best will become a week of frustration and trying to turn back time. They know it, and they do teach it to us. But we are usually too busy to listen.

I think I could say a lot more, but Adora Svitak says it wonderfully. We have to listen to this child.

To TRY? or To DO?

Not long ago I attended a personal development course. As I believe myself to be "developed", I thought it to be a waste of time, but after a few experiences I have learned to give things a chance. And, as usual, I was wrong. 

The people attending the course came from all walks of life, and were very interesting. All of them (and the course itself) made me see again that there is plenty to be learned, plenty to develop individually, plenty to understand, a lot to be done. Actually, they helped me remember that we learn every day and that we can grow every day. The day we can't learn or grow anymore better be our last day on this earth. 

I learned a few lessons. Right now I'll talk about the first one: One should not TRY, one must DO. Those who have read the initial posts in this blog will remember that one of the motivations behind coming to Colombia was to try and make a difference. Try to make this country move towards a better future. Try to help those who need it most. Try to make this a better place. What do all those phrases have in common? to TRY. But that is not the point. The point is to DO. I've come to realize that to try is to have an excuse ready for when things go wrong. A way to unload the guilt of not doing by saying that I tried.  What we need to DO is DO. Do make a difference. Do change the way this country is going. Do change the life of those who need it most. Do make this country a better place. When something is done, things happen. When something is tried, one is not committed to it. That is why we need to be the pig and not the chicken at breakfast time.

What do the chicken and the pig have to do with this? Well, at breakfast time there is a difference between the role of the Pig and that of the Chicken: the Chicken is involved, the Pig is committed. Hence, one has to be the Pig.