“It would be
something fine if we could learn how to bless the lives of children. They are
the people of new life. Children are the only people nobody can blame. They are
the only ones always willing to make a start; they have no choice. Children are
the ways the world begins again and again.
"But
in general, our children have no voice--that we will listen to. We force, we
blank them into the bugle/bell regulated lineup of the Army/school, and we
insist on silence.
"But
even if we cannot learn to bless their lives (our future times), at least we
can try to find out how we already curse and burden their experience: how we
limit the wheeling of their inner eyes, how we terrify their trust, and how we
condemn the raucous laughter of their natural love. What's more, if we will
hear them, they will teach us what they need; they will bluntly formulate the
tenderness of their deserving.” ~June Jordan
Painting by Elisabeth Slettnes
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