The Way of the Will

"I AM"

A person should know about his worth, his unique place as a creature made to have a relationship with God. He understands who he is, his ability to choose, that he matters, that he is accepted and valued. He should like himself, even love himself. He is realistic; he accepts his own limitations, and knows that he can be creative within them. Having liked and accepted himself, he will go on to have the basis for liking and accepting his neighbor. Knowing that God has loved and served him, he will know that it is right to love, accept, and serve others. This security is fostered by the child's human relationships, more than words about God to begin with. He should be with people who treat him with respect, politeness, truth. This includes the parent/teacher's not pretending to know everything or acting as if he has arrived and is morally or spiritually perfect. If we are truthful about our own knowledge/intellectual limitations, this fresh air of truth and openness will help the child accept himself. It will help him strive for what is right and good. We prefer the company of others like ourselves, to the intimidation of a superman or woman who makes us feel rotten...

We hinder the child's assurance of his worth --"just as I am"--when we set up artificial development schedules into which we try to cram the child grade by grade. The program then matters more that the child. We push the "slow" and bore the "quick." We ignore the living mind. We allow peer pressure in this materialistic and godless culture to become like a row of vultures, judging the child with beady eyes. The teacher and the school report can join this gauntlet of judgment through which the quivering child has to march.

We really do have to try to get away from our success-oriented society where people bolster their selfish egos by comparing their achievements as being better than someone else's...Where is the time for Johnny to flower as he is--developing a unity of self and aims?...

"I am!" I am a person of unique worth.

~ excerpted from For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

Comments

[Betty]

AWESOME post! I want to print it out and I'm out of ink!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Margaret in Minnesota]

Amen.