Children are Healers

I’ve been chasing this wistful feeling I felt as a child — you know that sense of wonder, unburdened by responsibility. Being a child was the greatest privilege on earth. When I reflect on my fleeting years as a child, I think about how creation and curiosity were the center of my world. Children are like Jack-in-the-box toys, that contain an assortment of little surprises. Their animated souls are always itching to pop out with silly inquisitiveness about the world until said silliness becomes a negative trait that brings irritability to the adults in their lives. And why is that? Why do adults have to project self-imposed stress onto children? Children do not learn what it means to be burdened by what has been; they do not fathom why one must navigate from this place of suffering. Now I’m starting to reflect on the division between children and adults. And I’m not talking about the obvious factors, like, age and responsibility that primarily mark this divide. But the lack of advocacy for children. We must intentionally practice being in community with children, viewing them as part of our village rather than as adversaries, because it truly takes a village. Children have an unlimited source of love in their hearts that fuels them to trust all joy. We need to honor them with love, respect, and care—celebrate them as a measure of healing. Let children’s unique perspective of the world be a lesson for adults on maintaining childlike wonder and rediscovering life’s magic.