Dear Teach: Challenges Through the Eyes of Children

Hi Boys and Girls,

You know, most of us would surely agree that life is challenging in many familiar ways. Some challenges kids face are school related, or deal with family, or friends, or maybe center around health issues, but fortunately, most of us have probably not dealt with challenges of such a serious magnitude [and yes, of course there is always the exception].

In three different accounts I share, consider:  a character in a book whose life is loosely based on a real place with real struggles, another is based on a real life person who became a spokesman/child for enslaved children, and last, an everyday 21st century child who wanted to make a difference.

First, Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt is a  story that takes place both on the island of Magala, off the coast of Maine and in a small nearby town where all the shutters are painted green. The year is 1912, and Turner Buckminister has moved to the town of Phippsburg with his family, and his minister father to discover the town isn't your everyday community, but one in which "people point and laugh at one another, where Turner's mistakes are known to the whole town, where you are told what it thinks and what it wants you to think."

Turner has a tough time fitting in until he meets Lizzie, a smart lively girl who lives in a settlement established by former slaves on Magala Island. The story deals with racial issues that tug at the human spirit.

If you want to laugh, to think deeply, and have a good cry then this book is for you.

Karen Cushman, author of The Midwife's Apprentice, wrote an eloquent afterword for this book, and one thing is certain, Gary Schmidt truly deserved the Newbery Honor Award for his book.

And though the characters' names are fictitious,  the story is based on fact, truthful and shameful facts of the destruction of a settlement where African Americans once lived. Today, a stigma still exists surrounding the history and events that occurred on Magala Island.

Needless to say, the story will provide you with many things to think about. There is a reoccurring universal theme here, one that seems to plague humanity-the inability to LOVE and to forgive.

Second, is the story based on the life of a boy, Iqbal Masih, born in Pakistan in 1983, who became enslaved as a four year old in order to pay off a family debt, "In 1986, Iqbal's older brother was to be married and the family needed money to pay for a celebration. For a very poor family in Pakistan, the only way to borrow money is to ask a local employer. These employers specialize in this kind of barter, where the employer loans a family money in exchange for the bonded labor of a small child."

His story is a difficult one, yet not so new. Under harsh conditions, Iqbal spent 6 years of his life working for a carpet maker in Pakistan toiling 6 days a week, 14 hours a day along with many other young children. At the age of ten he was finally freed and fought against bonded child labor.

Note the Kite, a symbol 

Story based on Iqbal Masih by
Francesco D'Adamo 

Iqbal Masih, age 12 [1983-1995]

The ending to both these stories is both heart wrenching and poignant, mostly because they are either true as in Iqbal's plight which ends in his death, and that of Lizzie's. Though she may have been a fictitious character, the story still capitalizes on the issues of bias crimes of hate.

So, what can you do?

Well, if after reading this material you are driven to continue your own research, then do so. Find out all you can about the places, the people, the causes, the circumstances, the end result, and then know, there really is only one thing left to do, and that is to be grateful for all the good you do have.

To understand that suffering is brought on by people and that it can also end by people.

Hate begets hate MLK; and the only way to remove it is to love, yes, as much of a cliche that it is, it is still the only hope humanity has: forgive, and forgive with all your might.

Further, it is never fair to say,"Well this group suffered more, than let's say, that group," because whether it involves one person who is bullied, or a group of people who are discriminated against, there is still suffering.

Suffering is suffering.

And if there is a purpose for it, then it surely must be to bring one to a higher realization that life is indeed good and one must strive to embrace all that is good: AT ALL COSTS.

So, instead choose to be kind toward everyone who is within your sphere. In turn, each of those people will be kind to people in their sphere, and soon believe it or not, we will have what I like to call, "a global halo effect."

Imagine what that would look like...can you imagine it even for a few seconds?

It is possible.

Now, take a look at the third account and how this child managed to turn his own personal family struggle into a positive spin.

Akash Viswanath Mehts, age 10 writes an article for Stone Soup, July 2009, "Love--A Cursed Blessing."

He states, " 'First of all, you must know that my story is not unique. It's merely the same tale as millions, maybe even billions of human beings; a few thousand hearts broken every day the same way as my life was shattered. Shattered but able to be put back together, piece by piece... But I take it the other way. I say the opposite; for every bad thing a good thing appears.' "

Akash recounts in six chapters when he was 6 years old the story of his parent's divorce, the personal struggle, and the new found joys of embracing a different life.

" ' I realized it was my mother's home and not my father's. At first I thought it was a joke. Then I wept, and then we all slept in the same bed, crying throughout the night.' "

July 2009, Stone Soup

Author, Akash Viswanath Mehta, age 10

After reading his story, I was curious to find the title of the book he mentioned his father had finally published. Though I was unable to locate it, instead I found the following clip where Akash is seen participating in a controversial situation involving Dow Chemical.

Here's the clip:

What are your thoughts on this?

And though, I have shared some sobering accounts, one ideal is certain, and it is in Einstein's response to a question once posed: Is the universe a friendly one?

To which he replied, "Yes, it is a very friendly Universe."

Therefore, above all else kids, keep that ideal in mind.

Happy reading and thinking kids.

The Teach

PS. Dear Einstein, Do scientists pray?

Dear Teach: Freedom

Hi Boys and Girls.

Today is indeed a very special day for all Americans, not only does it mark our 44th president, Barack Obama, an African American, inauguration [the 57th], but also marks Martin Luther King Day, the third Monday in January, a Federal holiday of service honoring the civil rights leader. 

Both men desired a better nation, one that embodied freedom, equality and prosperity for all Americans. Though MLK died 45 years ago, his dream is still alive today, in 2013. 
We are reminded of the progress Americans have made since 1968.

President Obama is sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts in the Blue Room of the White House during the 57th Presidential Inauguration in Washington on Sunday

                               

            Our president's second inaugural opening remarks on Monday, January 21, 2013:

We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths—that all of us are created equals—the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.

It is now our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began. For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country. Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia, to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for and cherished and always safe from harm.

If you could have a direct conversation with the President, what would you talk about?

Write a few topics and ideas you would discuss with President Barack Obama or write him a letter.

The Rev. MARTIN LUTHER KING Jr.
Aug. 28, 1963

His famous speech...

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life,liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Martin Luther King and some of his famous quotes:

I have a dream that my four little children

 will one day live in a nation where 

they will not be judged by the color of their skin,

 but by the content of their character.

The ultimate measure of a man

 is not where he stands in moments

 of comfort and convenience, 

but where he stands at times

of challenge and controversy.

In the End, we will remember

 not the words of our enemies,

 but the silence of our friends.

We must develop and maintain 

the capacity to forgive. 

He who is devoid of the power 

to forgive is devoid of the power to love. 

There is some good

 in the worst of us 

and some evil in the best of us. 

When we discover this, 

we are less prone 

to hate our enemies. 

The function of education is to 

teach one to think intensively

 and to think critically. 

Intelligence plus character - 

that is the goal of true education.

A lie cannot live.

I have decided to stick with love. 

Hate is too great a burden to bear.

Select one of his famous quotes and write what you believe he meant and what it means to you.

Has his dream come true? Think about the ways in which it has, and the ways it has not. 

Write a letter giving your advise and suggestions to solve the problems you believe  exist.

Be Well.

The Teach