My Letter to the Children, 1

September 29, 2016

The same week in which I again became a Great-Uncle, 100 children were killed in a war in Syria.  This is my letter to the children, all of them:

There are many things that I would like to say to you today.  Sometimes I think there are so many things that I choose not to say anything at all because it seems overwhelming to know where to start, so much seems so painfully out of place in our country and in our world.  Gods vision of us all living together happily seems so difficult to hope for or participate in right now.

Also, perhaps like many of your parents and teachers, I fear exposing you to some of the more dark and disturbing realities, things I don't want you to see or have to deal with until you are older and more capable of managing your fears and your power.  Nevertheless, with much dismay and some despair, I see how much you are witness to so long before you are ready, even while you are still forming a picture of life and the world, you see and hear things that you should not.  Earth and Heaven were never meant to be places where people hurt each other.

The screens of your life bring so much to you, don't they?  All kinds of images and messages from all over the world.  Mostly now you may be watching shows, talking and playing with your friends the simple games that kids play.  But I fear that soon enough these same gadgets will be bringing you images and messages that can be quite harsh and terribly difficult to understand.  Even if you ask me about them, so many circumstances of violence and poverty and dangers to the environment, I feel as though I am hardly able to sort them out myself though I have studied about these things for many years.

So I want to do my best for all of you, you see, even though I'm not sure of how it may help or not.  The things I talk about will raise questions and so I hope to keep talking together so that all of the questions can be heard and addressed over time.  Think of it as a project we engage together.

As I do this now as carefully as I can and as genuinely as possible, I recommend you do the same in your life too, as often as you can for your own happiness and for the healing of the whole world.

We Get
What We
Do
with
What Is Given

These are just a few words that make up a poem, of sorts.  But if you read them carefully the poem means different things.  It makes me think of two things:

1) What I do with the circumstances I am in is up to me and can greatly affect what I get out of life.

2) I can only do what I can with what I am given and we are not all given the same "stuff."

Most of the people I know usually emphasize the first one or the second, but rarely both.

People are born into all kinds of different circumstances.  Some are poor and hardly have enough to eat.  Some have everything they need and an excess of resources that expands the list of choices they have.  Many of us in America, for example, grow up rather comfortably.  We get to choose our favorite stores and restaurants, our many toys and outfits.  But many in our same country do not have those choices.  Their parents have less money to care for them, or maybe there is only one parent sometimes.  Sometimes their parents also grew up in families that struggled to find opportunities for work and an equal chance to succeed because of their race or ethnicity or their physical makeup.

Adults in America argue about why this is the case.  They argue about how to fix these unfair circumstances with so many having so much and so many having so little.  They say "Many of the poor just don't want to work."  They say "Give someone a job and they will flourish."  So who's right and who's wrong?  I am not always ready to say so easily.  It deals with many factors, especially something called economics which we will talk about next time [although it is pretty complicated.]

But here's what I do know.  Those who start off with less have a much harder time than those who start off with more.  This is why those who are rich are more than likely to stay rich and why those who are poor are more than likely going to stay poor.  It's like two people starting a race; one out way ahead and the other way behind.

Around the world it is worse.  There are rich and powerful nations and there are poor and vulnerable nations.  The more powerful use up most of the resources around the globe and those who are poor are left with far less than they need to prosper.  When they trade with each other it is always unfair.  Imagine having only rice to trade with at lunchtime.  Despite God's creating this world with more than enough to go around, over many centuries those who have accumulated most of the wealth and power have created tragic conditions of scarcity.  Because they have taken too much, millions of people don't have nearly enough.  People are forced to live in fear of not being able to meet their basic needs.  Because America and its friends have far more power and natural resources, much of the world is struggling and the adults who are struggling are very angry.  Some of the anger is against their nearby neighbors or even people within their own country.  They see their children suffering and they want it to stop so they use violence.  Other adults may join them because they are hurting terribly for other reasons we do not always understand.  But you need to know that there are many, many people who do not like us for the reasons I'm talking about.  Some have stopped fighting with each other in order to start fighting with us.

So keep in mind, there are children like you who only have rice and water when it is available.  In fact, it can be so bad that some of them would be happy to come here and to live as "a poor American" instead of struggle where they are.  Though it is very dangerous and some die on their way here, some of these people try to walk to America from Mexico and are turned away.  Others can only dream of escaping the place they are because it is dangerous and there is horrible fighting.

They live in violent places where the adults have allowed their anger to cause them to hurt one another, even the children.

And -- I have to tell you my dear ones -- this is where it gets so difficult for me.  I do not want you to be afraid of war and fighting.  But I do want you to know that the world has been hurt by human beings.  We have hurt each other greatly over many years and we have hurt the earth.

At your young age it is not too early to start caring about what hurts other people.  When you grow old enough to begin solving the worlds challenges [this is not impossible] with each other, it will be good for you to remember how much pain people have experienced because of these kinds of unfairness.

What Can You Do Now?

You are not too young to pray for peace and for healing between all people who are fighting and killing in the name of their special causes, which are never truly religious or have anything to do with God and Love, not ever.

You can begin the practice of careful listening which is not easy to do whether you are old or young.  When we listen to other people and truly hear what hurts them, we can begin to think of ways of helping one another and living together more comfortably as everyone's needs are met.

You can begin practicing sharing and being generous.  The more you have to share and give, the better.  Our perfect example of this is God who gives and gives and gives so much to everyone.  God doesn't play favorites and neither should we.  If we have taken too much we should start to give it back, we should include the interests of everyone when we make decisions as a global community.  You can begin trying to cooperate with your friends and classmates.  But you have to want to -- deep down believing that this will make an important difference.  Indeed -- it will.

God has always had a serious interest in our involvement in shaping and caring for the entire creation and all who live within it.  From the very beginning God invited us and gave us the responsibility to extend this care as those living in a garden.  This garden will again be perfect some day and you and I can begin to make that happen right in the here and now.


I look forward to talking with you more later about this.  That's probably enough for today.

Puzzle for Partisans

We get

What we

Do

With what

We are given.

ELECTION

I cuss, I cry, I fall upon Gods tender breast, and
sometimes, though not every time -- for that

would be a cruel test, I'm sent
out to the other with the selfsame

comfort that has blessed me here
and truly so and so I heal and truly rest.