“…Sometimes the only alternative to cringing before a parched collective is to commit an act drenched in courage.” ~ Clarissa Pinkola Estes from Women who Run with the Wolves
The French and Latin root of the word courage is heart (Coeur and Cor.)
Courage means to follow your heart.
In light of the tragic bombings at the Boston Marathon, I am calling out to all women – no, all parents, all people who impact children, all who are standing aghast at the recent events, to make a new choice as a parent, as the guiding force in our children’s lives.
I am asking all of us to be courageous.
The act drenched in courage I am imploring us to consider is to take the violent, life devaluing, gory video games and movies away from our children. Remove them from your home entirely. Studies repeatedly affirm that exposure to such violence in games and media causes children to act out in aggressive ways. The research is voluminous, do a Google search “the impact of gory video games on kids”. Here’s one study. http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/~caa/abstracts/2005-2009/05GA2.pdf. The events at Sandy Hook in Connecticut affirm the theory and support this call to courageous parenting. It’s time we say a decisive “No!” to the parched collective, to the marketing of violence, and to fear and disaster.
I want you to consider that violent, desensitized people are not born that way. They are not born feral beasts killing for fear of starvation. We culturally provide the petri dish of tolerance to violence, tolerance of abandoning our children to the public school playground, to daycare, to “the system” in our aimless pursuit of “more”, a nicer home, car, vacation etc...These are all fine things, but at what cost?
Change doesn’t start “out there” somewhere; it starts within; first within oneself, within our relationships, our families, and our homes. We must be balanced, confident; trusting earnestly in what we know is right in our own intimate sphere before we can call out to “them” (our neighbors, our communities, our governments) to help us, to protect us. We must teach our children to be the kind of people we want them to be; not the kind of people who have the stuff we want to have.
Gun control, increased “security”, metal detectors in schools, taking our shoes off at airports, border patrol etc…are emotionally driven visible responses to our fear, our pain and sadness. Unfortunately, they are like a band-aid upon a festering wound. The
infection is deeper than what we see on the surface. I’m not arguing against gun control or background checks; I’m arguing that they don’t begin to stop the problem. They provide a fatuous sense of security. The problem is systemic, endemic, it’s cultural.
Let’s respond to the core issue instead of expecting external laws to protect us. Our highest form of protection is to nurture a culture of people who sustain a high regard for the life of every other being, every living thing, including the earth and all of its inhabitants.
Will you join me in committing an act drenched in courage today? Will you follow your heart? Will you teach your children something different?
The French and Latin root of the word courage is heart (Coeur and Cor.)
Courage means to follow your heart.
In light of the tragic bombings at the Boston Marathon, I am calling out to all women – no, all parents, all people who impact children, all who are standing aghast at the recent events, to make a new choice as a parent, as the guiding force in our children’s lives.
I am asking all of us to be courageous.
The act drenched in courage I am imploring us to consider is to take the violent, life devaluing, gory video games and movies away from our children. Remove them from your home entirely. Studies repeatedly affirm that exposure to such violence in games and media causes children to act out in aggressive ways. The research is voluminous, do a Google search “the impact of gory video games on kids”. Here’s one study. http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/~caa/abstracts/2005-2009/05GA2.pdf. The events at Sandy Hook in Connecticut affirm the theory and support this call to courageous parenting. It’s time we say a decisive “No!” to the parched collective, to the marketing of violence, and to fear and disaster.
I want you to consider that violent, desensitized people are not born that way. They are not born feral beasts killing for fear of starvation. We culturally provide the petri dish of tolerance to violence, tolerance of abandoning our children to the public school playground, to daycare, to “the system” in our aimless pursuit of “more”, a nicer home, car, vacation etc...These are all fine things, but at what cost?
Change doesn’t start “out there” somewhere; it starts within; first within oneself, within our relationships, our families, and our homes. We must be balanced, confident; trusting earnestly in what we know is right in our own intimate sphere before we can call out to “them” (our neighbors, our communities, our governments) to help us, to protect us. We must teach our children to be the kind of people we want them to be; not the kind of people who have the stuff we want to have.
Gun control, increased “security”, metal detectors in schools, taking our shoes off at airports, border patrol etc…are emotionally driven visible responses to our fear, our pain and sadness. Unfortunately, they are like a band-aid upon a festering wound. The
infection is deeper than what we see on the surface. I’m not arguing against gun control or background checks; I’m arguing that they don’t begin to stop the problem. They provide a fatuous sense of security. The problem is systemic, endemic, it’s cultural.
Let’s respond to the core issue instead of expecting external laws to protect us. Our highest form of protection is to nurture a culture of people who sustain a high regard for the life of every other being, every living thing, including the earth and all of its inhabitants.
Will you join me in committing an act drenched in courage today? Will you follow your heart? Will you teach your children something different?
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