Can I Get a Witness?
Nothing weighs on my heart more than when I go about my daily life and come in the path of adults who are negligent or abusive to children. I feel like I encounter this too often. From when I shop, go to the grocery or even sometimes just outside my office window on Broadway as I am working and I can hear people as they wait for a bus.
Wherever life is, too often my ears hear an adult who has met the end of the rope and is berating, threatening or diminishing a child. Our future. Don’t get me wrong, I am not referring to normal, healthy, loving correction. It’s the situations where tired, crying children are being ridiculed, threatened, and in some cases what I consider assaulted by an adult who is clearly at the end of their rope. I have seen this, and heard this while passerbys seem to tune out the tragedy or just not get involved.
As our community and our neighbors face unprecedented challenges, daily stress and tensions rise. It is our children that are going to have to bear the costly burden of our solutions, bail outs and mistakes. I hope they are able.
I had this poem on my bedroom wall as a little girl and I read it often. It reinforces for me that children are born learning.
Children Learn What They Live by Dorothy Law Nolte
If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.
If a child lives with fear, he learns to be apprehensive.
If a child lives with pity, he learns to feel sorry for himself.
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.
If a child lives with jealousy, he learns to feel guilt.
BUT
If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement, he learns to be confident.
If a child lives with praise, he learns to be appreciative.
If a child lives with acceptance, he learns to love.
If a child lives with honesty, he learns what truth is.
If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice.
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith in himself and in those about him.
If a child lives with friendliness, he learns that the world is a nice place in which to live.
Find your voice. Open your heart. Reach out a hand to one and influence the condition of all. Metro United Way provides an efficient, easy path to create change, get help, give help, and make an impact for children, adults and our community. And it isn’t just good for the people that are helped. It’s good for you, your family, your company and our community. Wouldn’t you agree that we all win when children succeed, when families are financially stable and when people have good health? We believe it takes everyone in our community working together to create a brighter future. Will you join the Live United movement?
Now more than ever you will find hundreds of rewarding volunteer opportunities and see how easily Metro United Way can connect individuals and groups. If you have a passion for the aging, children, people with disabilities, the homeless, youth, domestic violence, disaster relief, substance abuse, housing, hunger, or education … there’s a way to help make a difference and get started on creating that better tomorrow! United, we can make a difference.
Bring on the sunshine and bring on Spring!
Kelly, beautifully put. I appreciate the poem. I’m going to share it with some parents that I think could use that reminder right now…. Thank you.