Recent events are heralded as a generational shift. It’s about time. With it comes an optimism for a saner future. Phrases such as “passing the torch”, “the power of hope” and “exhilaration of being on the cusp of a brighter day” are making headlines. The vocabulary surrounding this is interesting, too. Words such as dignity, decorum, decency, respect, kindness, honesty, caring, empathy, grace, freedom, gratitude, and integrity are used to describe what we regard to be innately human characteristics and what we most want from others. This should not be newsworthy. Alas, it is.
In the midst of this tectonic four-week shift, we enjoyed a week-long immersion with our grandchild in a lush mountain setting. No other experience could have better reinforced this sense of the best of what humanity has to offer. In this devoted interaction, you can’t help but see the world through the eyes of a young child and come to appreciate the things that really matter. You don’t have to look far. Just crawl on the floor with them for a couple hours and live in and be their world. You’ll be rewarded by experiencing first-hand the traits and behaviors that elicit genuine and instinctively loving reactions from an innocent child, those that create that special bond; those that bring joy. Their laughter will echo in the mountains. You’ll see the wonder they see as they move about freely, driven by curiosity and a desire to explore.
This opportunity has focused anew our perceptions about the generational change and steeled our resolve to not only expect, but work for this brighter tomorrow. I am reminded of the lyrics to John Denver’s song Rhymes and Reasons:
It is here we must begin
To seek the wisdom of the children
And the graceful way of flowers in the wind
For the children and the flowers
Are my sisters and my brothers
Their laughter and their loveliness
Would clear a cloudy day
Like the music of the mountains
And the colors of the rainbow
They’re a promise of the future
And a blessing for today
It is written from the desert
To the mountains they shall lead us
By the hand and by the heart
They will comfort you and me
In their innocence and trusting
They will teach us to be free
For the children and the flowers
Are my sisters and my brothers
Their laughter and their loveliness
Would clear a cloudy day
And the song that I am singing
is a prayer to non-believers
Come and stand beside us,
We can find a better way
In a recent New York Times article about happiness and seeking positive emotions, Jenny Taitz, a psychologist, explained that too often the focus in therapy is on easing negative symptoms – “taking away the bad,” so to speak. Yet most of us don’t just need to reduce pain, we also need to boost joy. In fact, she explained, research has shown that improving positive emotions can be more effective in reaching a state of happiness than just containing negative symptoms. Simply avoiding or ignoring bad behaviors, or the worst that humanity has to offer, is not enough.
As we turn the page, let us be mindful of the wisdom of children and the simple joys of delighting in the best of human behaviors to which they respond so well. And, let us find a way to do those things that boost our own joy and accept, encourage and enable others to do the same.