Australia is a conservative country pretending to be liberal, just as Singapore is a dictatorship pretending to be a democracy. Anyone who thinks otherwise clearly doesn't have a human IQ.
There's something pure and innocent about children; something we cannot recreate no matter how charitably and chastely we try to live. I was in daycare from six months to four years, and I don't remember ever being bullied. Sure, I was lonely, but that was pretty much my own fault. I've been a loner since I was born.
Children are born so whole and loving. Sure, children are egocentric - it's a psychological state that we can do nothing to change - but they love freely and unconditionally, they don't judge or accuse; that is the true, raw beauty of humanity. Innocence is bliss.
But in pre-primary and primary school things started to change. Sweet innocence was replaced with dangerous ignorance, but the shocking thing is that they were marketed as one and the same. Children were old enough to be indoctrinated, but not old enough to reason. There were boys abusing girls before they truly understood gender roles. There were children preaching God before they knew what God was. Children picking on 'poofs' and 'fags' before they even knew the facts about homosexuality. They formed ideas about race before they had evidence to back the stereotypes. The 'pretty' girls got 'boyfriends' and taunted the 'ugly' girls (you can guess which category I fit into). Horrible, adult things like that.
Children are so easily influenced, so easily swayed, too easily fooled into believing without truly committing - or perhaps it is the other way around; I think the saddest thing is when I see children committing to a God without truly believing in Him. Parents are blessed with the truly wonderful task of raising children to be gentle, diligent citizens who have their own independent opinions, but respect both the opinions of others and the right for others to form their own opinions. A parent should never dare to tell their children what to think; a parent should be chiefly employed in teaching their children just to think in the first place.
Australia has become so narrowminded and shortsighted. We don't think, we don't believe, we don't care, we don't commit. We don't see things the way the world does; we're so obsessed with our little bubble of money and our warped reasoning of right and wrong. I'll teach my children not to spend their lives being a colour. Every night I pray for those trapped in the blindness of indoctrinated,
outdated beliefs. I pray that religion and society can become more
open-minded, more tolerant and accepting. I'll teach my children the beauty of life and parenthood; the uniqueness of men and women. I'll teach my children to think and to care; about what I don't really mind. I'll teach my children to be proud of themselves and to aim to live in a world that they're proud of; I'll teach my children to respect other opinions and people from different walks of life. But at the moment, I'm teaching myself to pray for the indoctrinated - children who grow into narrowminded, shortsighted clones of their narrowminded, shortsighted parents who are unable/unwilling to know any better.
1 comment:
Really appreciated the connections between innocence and ignorance.
In the end, innocence makes you feel good and leads to knowing.
Ignorance is a hollow feeling and leads to ... more ignorance.
(And there's the whole comfort margin which is another factor).
And free love and egocentricity. Children had a centre, and they are afraid of being pushed out into the margin.
(I don't know that reason has an age, so to speak, despite the Jesuits).
I definitely take the dilligence, as that is a character trait which will take you far in life.
"Respect both the rights of others and the right to form their opinions". Yes, one is there and one is often lacking.
And "just to think".
Pray or pay?
And the indoctrination is just this: "the narrow path". Narrow and short are for paths, not for people, who deserve to grow wild and free. (It's something you happen to be, not something you would choose).
Six months to four years: not the peak of egocentricity I've come to believe? I wonder what it was about your daycare, and could it be replicated?
The consequences of trying to change egotism: a cowed-under child who tries to please others. (I could think of some other consequences, Soli).
Love your active verbs: care, commit, think, believe. They're all to do with mental states and with actions.
The "true" understanding of gender roles and the rest is more likely to be mature than to be adult. Think of the distinctions between an "adult" movie and a "mature" movie.
Australia: you do have minds and sight, so save your brains and your eyes! And more to the point, your children's: or allow/encourage them to save themselves.
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