If greatness is achieved by the accumulation of the small things we do on a daily basis then why do we teach our children to be overly cautious? Have them run away from a stranger, instead of helping them? To be careful the world instead of embracing it? Are we letting the few control the masses and at the same time setting our children up to fail? I remember when I was reading about Ted Turner, one of the thing that struck me was the fact that his vision was peace through the flow of information. That is one of the main reasons he came up with a channel that most of us know. That by informing people of what was going on around the world we would get a better understanding of each other, be more tolerant and somewhere in there hopefully he thought we would become more willing to help others.
The answer to the questions above is all the same, fear. We have become so afraid that without realizing it we are installing fears in the hearts of children. When it comes to this the media is little help, in fact it seems like if it can´t install a fear or two in you then it is not worth the airtime. Since when did it become more newsworthy to hear about a kidnapping, a bombing, the crash of the stock market, Brittney Spears shaving her head and celebrities arguing on television than someone stopping to help you change your tire on the side of the road? Even better, since when did those things become more newsworthy than people inviting strangers into their home during the events in Louisiana? How come the news consists mainly of events to scare and warn you rather than news to inspire you and encourage? What is the benefit of giving you 55 min worth of "newsworthy" material and then a 5 min happy ending story?
You may be thinking at this point, how horrible it would be if your child was kidnapped, how horrible it would be if something bad happened to your child, your grandchild or even someone you love. But why is it OK for you to install fear into the hearts of the young ones, why is it OK that you teach them to be afraid of everything? Now don´t get me wrong, I do believe in being cautious, after all when you see fire you do know not to stick your hand in it. But do you go running away simply because there is a candle burning, do you tell your children to just run to the safest place you they can think if when they see that vicious flame on the candle? So we all hear the horrible stories about children being kidnapped, murdered and so on.
Yes it is a horrible thing, but how is it any worse that a great vision of men like Ted Turner, Walt Disney and others is being used to do more damage to our children than good anymore? Not directly to the children but by presenting the world to adults as if there is something to fear around every corner? Imagine if Mother Theresa would have been taught what we are teaching our children today? Do you think she would have done all the small deeds she did every day that eventually made her what we all know her as today? After all, she had to start with a single stranger that she reached out and touched, then another one, and another one. Why didn't she run away? Why wasn't she afraid like our children are today?
What would she have become if she would have had the same fears installed in her as we install in our children today? Once you start teaching your child to fear some things, do you think the child will know what to fear or what not to fear? Will they start fearing more than less? Chances are they will, and what holds most people back from becoming what they want in life? The answer is simple, fear. There is nothing in this world that limits you to reach your full potential like fear does. So what makes it OK for you to install those types of fears in children, what makes it OK for us to limit their future for our own fears and are those fears based on factual things? Are we limiting our children because of an exception and are we breeding the fear without reason?
Many of you at this point will probably be thinking how in the world I can say something like this. How can he tell us not to warn our children about all the dangers out there? What is something happens to my child, or me? Well I am not telling you not to be cautious or not to tell your children of what could happen. In fact you should warn them, just like you do with getting burnt on fire, or not to stand underneath a tree during a lightning storm. Most of you are probably thinking, well it is not as likely that they are stuck my lightning as being kidnapped by a stranger! Well the statistics are actually quite shocking, your child is 2,5 times as likely to be hit by lightning as it is to be kidnapped by a stranger, in fact it is almost 4 times as likely that the child will die from heart disease than to be kidnapped by a stranger, and they are just about 15 times as likely to commit suicide than be kidnapped by a stranger.
So you still think you are installing a justified fear in your child? Or can it be that the great vision of world peace and the flow of news is being used to manipulate your mind into believe that the world is a big scary place where you need to be afraid of everything? So the next time you think about warning your child about strangers and that they could possibly be kidnapped by one, just remember they are twice as likely to be killed in a plane crash than to be kidnapped. What is the difference, the media and information flow will make sure that you get the bad news many times over. Maybe it is time to question our judgment, to question the information you are being given and put things into perspective. After all, why in the world would you want to help in limiting your child's potential to become the next Mother Theresa, Ted Turner, Walt Disney or Donald Trump.
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