I went to the park with my nephew the other day. There was a kid playing in the sand nearby, making something he thought was a castle and I thought looked like a dinosaur egg. His older brother came over and started stomping on his castle/dinosaur egg thing. The kid got upset. They started all out fighting. Kicking. Screaming. Hitting. It was intense. I put a stop to it. Decided that sand should not be thrown in the general direction of my nephew and that I didn't care if I was not "in charge" of them. Kids shouldn't act that way.
They were stunned.
I was stunned that they were stunned.
Then the mom came over. She barely even looked at me, let alone addressing the situation.
I was stunned.
Parents say self-esteem trumps character.
The community says walking away trumps discipline.
Kids grow up to be adults who think highly of themselves yet have no character.
Sometimes, it's so much more important to stand for the right and good, that we must risk offending someone. Watching while children hurt each other and endanger innocent bystanders is not tolerance, it is wrong. The world prizes tolerance above most things except the "right" to do as they please. We don't have a right to please ourselves--that's just selfishness. We have the freedom to do what is right, and if we refuse, we lose a bit of freedom. Thanks for posting this!
ReplyDeletePatti O
Great post, Em. And great comment, Patti. I just wrote out Patti's quote on a card and put it on my desk... "We have the freedom to do what is right, and if we refuse, we lose a bit of freedom." Wow. So true. Thanks gals!
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