World Youth officially ended two days ago.\u00a0 Did it escape your notice?\u00a0 Perhaps if you are not closely associated with the Catholic community you didn\u2019t even know there WAS a World Youth Day. (And besides, it\u2019s a bit misleading\u2026because the \u201cday\u201d is actually a collection of days.)<\/p>\n
The event was envisioned several decades ago to empower Catholic youth to embrace and speak easily of their faith.\u00a0 No small task since many adults struggle with ways to articulate their faith, their structure of belief, to anyone who might be interested.<\/p>\n
A few weeks ago I enjoyed a deep, although brief, conversation with a nine year old.\u00a0 We conversed in the presence of her grandmother, who was under the impression that she needed to speak a little more slowly and enunciate her thoughts clearly and at a higher volume in order that her grand daughter might better understand her adult thoughts.\u00a0 At the end of our chat the nine year old said with kind emphasis, \u201cThank you.\u00a0 Really.\u00a0 Thanks.\u201d\u00a0 Translated to:\u00a0 thank you for speaking to me as if I have a working brain and have a moderate understanding of how things work.\u201d<\/p>\n
At nine.\u00a0 At eight.\u00a0 At seven.\u00a0 I could continue to count down.\u00a0 Kids are smart.\u00a0 Connected.\u00a0 Logical.\u00a0 Kids can deal with so much more information that adults imagine.\u00a0 They are innovative, unencumbered by the boxes, definitions, restrictions that will come quickly upon them as they move upward through the educational system.\u00a0 A system that unfortunately educates the capacity for imagination and dreaming right out of them under the auspices of preparing them for the \u201creal world.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Hmmmmm.\u00a0\u00a0 Real. World.\u00a0 Recycling.\u00a0 Reuse.\u00a0 Reduction.\u00a0 These are concepts that come naturally to children.\u00a0 Any child knows at least seventeen alternative uses for a large, empty cardboard box.\u00a0 As they age these principles are \u00a0slowly squeezed out of them through the acquisitive meme of our commercialized culture.\u00a0 And then\u2026they get to be \u201ctaught\u201d (again) structures that they once knew and lived in naturally.\u00a0 Ah. But I digress, do I not?<\/p>\n
Kids are smart.\u00a0 Until they are educated with \u201cbecause I said it\u2019s so,\u201d they are actually willing to try and figure things out on their own.\u00a0 OOOOOOhhhh.\u00a0\u00a0 Until they are taught that they have to be TAUGHT how to figure things out on their own.\u00a0 WHoooosh. There goes all that empowerment.\u00a0 Self-knowledge tossed out the window.<\/p>\n
Could we celebrate that a child might answer an adult,
\n\u201cBecause I said so?\u201d\u00a0 A lot of my adult friends find it difficult to reference their positions with, \u201cBecause I say it\u2019s so.\u201d\u00a0 We are schooled that footnotes for knowledge are required. Sourcing experts who have the right to declare that something is so, or that it is not so.\u00a0 But really, who is more of an expert about your own soul than\u2026you?<\/p>\n
If there are children in your life \u2013 how about you have your own Youth Day celebration?\u00a0 Empower that child to connect to all the structures of their life.\u00a0 Ask a child a question and then have the presence to actually listen to their response.\u00a0 Instead of correcting their response how about asking more questions?\u00a0 It might turn out to be an empowering experience for you both.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I said so.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Try it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
World Youth officially ended two days ago.\u00a0 Did it escape your notice?\u00a0 Perhaps if you are not closely associated with the Catholic community you didn\u2019t even know there WAS a World Youth Day. (And besides, it\u2019s a bit misleading\u2026because the \u201cday\u201d is actually a collection of days.) The event was envisioned several decades ago to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[383,382,381],"class_list":["post-741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-joys","tag-because-i-said-so-kids-are-smart","tag-empowering-youth","tag-world-youth-day"],"yoast_head":"\n