Train Up a Child
“I will take my child to a good school where they will get a good education and they will learn how to take care of themselves and to be independent.” That’s the plan that a lot of parents have for their children and many schools truly have the best intentions for the children that are placed in their care and do try to impart to them the tools and skills that society has determined are needed for life. Reading, writing, how to answer questions, how to pass exams, how to follow the law of the land, how to use a computer and some just may even teach the children how to think independently and to solve problems and innovate. For those with the budget, they may enroll their children in extracurricular activities like sports, learning an instrument, a life skills class or perhaps even a class on etiquette. That, coupled with whatever training they may receive from their parents, immediate family and environment around them (technology and the real physical world) is meant to craft them into a fully-fledged adult, capable of taking care of themselves, raising a family and looking after what is given into their care in the world around them. And so, after about two decades of training, these young individuals are released into the world to leave their imprint on it.
I found myself wondering whether, through it all, your young adult learnt how to truly look after themselves and the world around them and what that really entails.
Did they learn that they are inherently connected to their Creator and that their lives are sustained through a thriving relationship with Him? Did they learn who they are and what their purpose and destiny is? Did they learn that they are beautiful and capable and that they need no human’s permission to live a good and fruitful life? Did they learn that even though this is so, there are those who will oppose them?
Did they learn to be strong and courageous? Did they learn to love God, themselves and people? Did they learn what to value and what to disparage? Did they learn to value truth and life? Did they learn how to give their word and do all to honor it? Did they learn how to honor themselves or the people around them? Did they learn not to honor the thieves, murderers, self-centered and greedy people who have grown fat on the wealth or death of others? Did they learn compassion? Did they learn to be consistent and faithful with what they were given to do? Did they learn to endure and to persevere? To suffer for what they believe in? Did they learn to live for more than their eyes can see? Did they learn to overcome hurdles and not to compromise?
Did they learn how to serve? How to be leaders who transform the people and world around them for the better? Did they learn how to protect what they value? Did they learn not to use intimidation, fear and bullying as tools to get what they want? Did they learn that doing all of this is becoming less and less popular the world over, but that they should still do it anyway?
Did they learn that their physical body goes through complex cycles of change that they have to be aware of and sensitive to and track? Did they learn that they require specific nutrients for each season of change their bodies go through? Did they learn that as the environment shifts seasonally, the body needs nutrients to help their bodies adapt to these changes? Did they learn where to get these nutrients from in nature, as opposed to a pill?
Did they learn to live in harmony with the environment around them? Did they learn that plants thrive differently in different seasons and this is by divine arrangement? Did they learn that this is for their benefit? Did they learn that the world tries to break out of these pre-planned cycles purely for profit? Did they learn that this is to their detriment? Did they learn what they can do to break the cycle of mindless consumerism and greed?
Did they learn that the world is growing increasingly toxic? Did they learn that destructive manufacturing, poor farming practices, electromagnetic frequencies have poisoned the air, water and soil and food? Did they learn why it is that you haven’t done anything about that? Did they learn that GMOs are not only harmful to the human body but they are causing depletion of our original seeds and plants? Did they learn that this is causing us to fall prisoner to the large companies producing these aberrations of nature?
Did they learn that the ‘modern’ healthcare system can sometimes do more harm than good? Did they learn that all this modernity might actually hinder their own ability to even have children or healthy children? Did they learn that Afrika’s indigenous holistic healing practices are actually beneficial?
Did they learn to love Afrika? Did they learn that Afrika is beautiful and strong? Did they learn that Afrika was downtrodden and written off but that God believes in her and has something amazing for her to do for Him? Did they learn that many of the systems that Afrika is using came from an oppressive colonial or neocolonial regime? Did they learn that in order for true liberty to prevail in Afrika that it needs to be changed? Did they learn that the system serves the interests of a handful of people who do not want it to change? How to effect change? Did they learn how to effect change in Afrika?
Did they learn that the very plastics and the aluminum foil that they use to prepare, store and transport food can negatively affect their health? Did they learn that despite global pollution, the plastics manufacturers are not willing to stop manufacturing plastics? Did they learn that blue light from the devices that they constantly stick their noses into, can cause visual impairment and prevent their bodies from healing and being restored each night, as God originally purposed?
So, what did they learn? Did they learn that if one million people like them constantly throw trash in that mysterious place called ‘away’, that it will find them again one day? Even in the belly or the flesh of the fish that they are preparing for dinner? Or the very air that they are breathing?
Did they learn that the chemicals that are used to purify their drinking water could harm them? Did they learn where food comes from, how it is produced, what it contains, how that affects them? Did they learn how to produce food themselves? Did they learn how to coax the earth back to life from the torments of chemical fertilizers and harmful? How to work in harmony with it to produce strong healthy plants? Did they learn how to protect our original seeds? Did they learn how to purify water without the use of harmful chemicals? Did they learn how to identify plants that heal and how to use them and grow them?
Just what did they learn?
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