Good will triumph 4

"As is a tale so is life, not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters."  Seneca




None of us knows how long our lives will be, but we do know that it is GOODness that makes it worth living and unites us all.

But what models of goodness do we provide our children?

Who are their heroes?

Are they simply "famous" people?

Or are they GOOD people who can inspire our children to be GOOD too?


After the heart-wrenching tragedy of Newton, it was hard for any of us to believe in any goodness amidst such an agony of suffering.

"...like 9/11 Newton contained within it, the ongoing fact of revelation.   Both 9/11 and Newtown were marked by a revealing of the goodness of normal people which is seldom celebrated, but is central to the balance of the world.  When teachers tried to shield the children, it was a revelation of their goodness,   It is important, in part, because, by the light of the goodness of others -by that light, we can see ourselves”

Eugene Kennedy, Psychologist, Professor Emeritus at Loyola University

Good will triumph 3

As parents and educators, we soon learn that our job is not simply to eradicate all trials and tragedies from our children's lives.  Rather it is to give them the wisdom and the courage they will need to navigate life's stormy waters, tame the demons, and kill the dragons!

Newberry Medalist winner, Katherine Paterson, explains that good books are really a great way for children to "practice" life.  But children need us to share books that can offer such an opportunity BEFORE they are needed - that is before the child suffers a devastating loss or an unexpected betrayal.

"Fairy tales do not tell children that the dragons exist.  Children already know that dragons exist.  Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed."  G.K. Chesterton

Good will triumph (2)

The two most important ingredients of any children's book, according to Jane Yolen,  are - hope and joy.







BELIEVE








"Beneath the muck and scum of things, there something always, always sings."  Emerson

Good will triumph

Julian of Norwich was a medieval, English mystic, who maintained that :

"All shall be well, all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well."

Madeleine L'Engle believed that this "all wellness" should be at the heart of every single children's book. 

But what does it mean, this "all wellness?"

Well, maybe it is easier to begin with what it does NOT mean.  I do not think it means that we have to feed children some naïve, Pollyanna, pie-in-the-sky stories that completely disregard the sadnesses that simmer beneath our lives.

Rather I think it has to do with having a stalwart belief in what all good stories from the Chronicles of Narnia to the Harry Potter series center around - and that is, despite our troubled times and dark days, despite the evil doers and the naysayers of the world, despite all of that....

GOOD is more powerful than Evil....

LOVE can conquer Hate

HOPE is what we humans DO (even if we do not always feel it)