Childish behavior
"Can I take my stuffed animals?" a four-year-old girl asked in the wake of quake preparations in Japan.
An adult in Florida decided that he didn't want the newly-born puppies in his home, stuffed them in a brown paper bag and buried all nine of them in a 60 cm grave. It was heart-rending to read that the mother dog "Sheba" broke from her chain the next day and began digging up her young.
Both the above news appeared in The Jakarta Post on the same date, Jan. 19, 1995. And what a contrast it makes, in the behavior of children and adults. Isn't it funny that we talk of "childish" behavior as if to demean the children? Is adult behavior something to write home about?
Children are born honest and innocent and they embody what is finest and best in the species. Sweetness and innocence are inherent in their nature. Keeping this in view, the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore said: "Every time a child is born, it brings with it the hope that God is not disappointed with man."
It's better if we leave children on their own. We should only try to create for them a healthy environment of positive thinking and deeds. If we set bad examples, the children learn the wrong things from us. The kids need models, not critics. They are blissfully ignorant of bad things such as enmity, hate and anger, and are well-endowed with distinctive emotional expressions such as the capacity for love, friendship, selflessness, fearlessness, sincerity and simplicity.
Children do not take anything seriously -- they're always joyful. What is needed from us is a positive reinforcement of all their characteristics.
According to Peter Ustinov, "Parents should remember that besides being parents, they are also the bone on which the puppy can shape its teeth." It is said that there are just two lasting bequests that we can give our children; roots and wings.
A small child in Bhutan, while writing an examination in English letter-writing a few days after the assassination of India's ex-PM Rajiv Gandhi, wrote: "I do not know much about Rajiv Gandhi. I think he was really a great man. Let us pray for him, let us pray for his re-birth in our country. Let us hope our prayer will be answered one day and he will be re-born here."
How innocent and touching the child's wish was.
Isn't it simply noble to think and act childish?
D. CHANDRAMOULI
Jakarta