Over the weekend, my son, Andy, sent me some pix of his son, my grandson, Shane. As Grandpa Larry, I had moments of being mesmerized by one particular pic, not able to take my eyes off it. His pose was a young man’s pose, completely at ease with himself. His face was that of someone completely lost in thought, with a dose of melancholy, the corners of his mouth showing off a very delicate smile. The soundtrack is Chet Baker, a magical trumpet player with an intimate vocal style, part of the West Coast cool jazz scene birthed in the early Fifties. I’d top it off with an imaginary, smoldering cigarette dangling from his lips, but it just doesn’t match the sweetness on his seven year old face. OK, we can forget that prop.
The Constitution of the Iroquois Nation says the decisions we make today need to consider the welfare of those born seven generations from now. It would be hard to find anyone in their right mind to argue with about it. The only caveat is I did say right mind. Here’s the thing, the vast majority of us are not even thinking about the next generation, Shane’s generation.
I stared at Shane’s picture for a couple of days, certain I wanted to write about it, but there was no handle. For some reason, I decided to look at pictures of child refugees and I found Walaa, a five year old girl, now displaced from Aleppo in Syria. She is an innocent victim of a completely idiotic political scenario, with Russia supporting their barbaric dictator and the US doing the same for certain rebel forces opposed to him, but everyone hates ISIS. Thousands upon thousands have already been killed and millions are now refugees, all suffering from the cancer of violence.
I went back and forth between Shane and Walaa. Looking at her exquisitely beautiful face and those sad, sad eyes brought me to tears way more than once. She now cries every night before going to sleep because the attacks on her home always happened in the dark.
What kind of world do we want to leave for these two children, understanding the mind boggling chasm between their lives? Both are completely innocent, born into their respective circumstance. They share the future of this planet and we need to bring them closer together because right now the imbalance couldn’t be more stark than these two pictures, no words necessary..
I think the most important thing we can do is gift the next generation with a blueprint of how they need to treat each other and we must set the example for them. I can tell you right now, we are setting the shittiest example imaginable. Nearly 25% of all U.S. children up to 17 are living below the poverty line, putting us one away from the bottom of 35 of the world’s wealthiest nations. Child mortality rates are ten times higher for Walaa than for Shane. We are living in a three ring circus and the clowns are crying for the children.
Every issue pales in comparison to the simple idea that we owe our children a better world than this one, every parent’s prayer. If we put the welfare of the world’s children ahead of any other consideration, we will take care of the laundry list of challenges we all face.
I think if Shane met Walaa he would want to help her by sharing his world with her, but he’d probably have difficulty understanding her world and so do I, primarily because it is unimaginable. She would likely find his world a fantasy, one she probably couldn’t even dream about because it is so distant. Somehow, as if by magic, they would find things to talk about.
Rich or poor, powerful or powerless, no parent wants to see their child suffer. Today’s dialogue is all about us and the problems we have created. You know, when children misbehave, we call a “Time Out.” I wish we could do that right now, screetch to a halt and take an abrupt 90 degree turn, coming face to face with Shane and Walaa. Who needs words?