Curiosity and Courage

I spent some time this week visiting local elementary schools and talking about global oneness and human courage. I used my trip with The Emancipation Network to India as a starting point in an effort to raise awareness, prompt questions, and stir up a little interconnectedness. It was all modified based on age, but basically it followed the same structure – some photographs of Indian food, of traditional brightly colored saris, of children playing and smiling, a little “I love you” in Bengali, passing around of rupees, my passport, airplane tickets and reading a story called Courage, by Bernard Waber. Consistently, the children all giggled at the picture of the squat toilet, but I hope the take home point is that children across the world have the same basic needs that they do. Even if it looks different.

In one Kindergarten classroom we sat in a circle on the rug for a long time. I talked about differences – language, country, currency, clothes. Then I simply explained all the ways that all children are alike. I asked the children to raise their hands if they love to jump rope, play tag, blow bubbles, play soccer, sing, dance, draw and paint. Around the circle, hands flew up. Such joy! The way children play is the same across the world. Again, I asked the children to raise their hands if they thought that all children should be able to have someone to love them, somewhere safe to live, somewhere comfortable to sleep, a meal when they're hungry, access to a doctor when they're sick, the ability to write their names and read a story. The children were shouting now, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” I turn to look at the children's teacher, so very in tune with her class and so clearly in love with her profession, and she's got tears in her eyes. I smile and she leans over and says “Janell, it really is that simple, isn't it?” Indeed, it is.

We move on to courage. I share the Hindi adage, “The elephant marches on, despite the barking dogs.” What does this mean? What takes courage? When have you used courage? Riding without training wheels, swimming without floaties, getting a shot at the doctor's office, asking for help, saying “I'm sorry”, wearing a cast all summer, and the classic “trying to make it to the next level on my (insert endless video game and system titles here)”. Ok, fine. I admit it took a little work for me to let this last one go. But I moved on. I suppose we should all be grateful that their answer wasn't “finding clean water” or “searching for my family's dinner”. It feels tricky to me that I really can't share the true stories of courage from the children I met across the world. I have to keep it neat, keep it appropriate, keep it relative. But I am grateful for the opportunity to speak to all of these children, in this capacity, in a school climate and culture that is so often focused on a goal, on scores, on something a little more tangible than courage. I love the teachers that have made room for me and room for this cause, however delicately the seed has to be planted.

And then we set up a walking museum in the classroom. They got to touch the photos, the passport, the jewelry, color pictures of Indian children, spin the globe, and interact. Hysterically, they start to get a little silly. They want my attention. They have dozens of questions entirely unrelated to our discussion, “How old are you?” and “How many kids do you have?” and “Have you ever been to (insert Disney World, the beach, the playground, my grandmother's house)?” The teacher sensing it's time to move on, asks the children to sit down. As she is refocusing the group and we begin to wrap up our adventure together, I am suddenly struck. Ha! I tell the children all of these questions are the very same questions the children in India had for me! Well, less the one about Disney World. But I'm in love with this new discovery. Instinctively they are curious about one another, about human beings, experiences, personalities, relationships. All children are! And I leave the classroom on this day knowing that I couldn't have possibly communicated child trafficking, extreme poverty, the cycle of prostitution, lack of educational opportunities, or the real struggles of the children I met in Kolkata to these precious, comfortable, American children.  And that's ok.

I hope what they carry with them, are my parting words, “use your courage and stay curious”. Because this is ultimately how we find each other and how we help each other. I guess this is how I got here after all, talking to kids of the world about kids of the world, with my very own courage and curiosity.

Namaste,
Janell