The following is a post on the reflection after watching the
movie "life is beautiful"
a father tries to explain to the children a lie to mask the horror
of the war
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Okay. As a parent (and grandparent) and as a movie lover, I'll jump
in.
(This is my first posting EVER here - so be gentle.)
I told my kids that there might have been a historic Santa Claus
but that, to me, Santa was the spirit of generosity and that
parents kept up the tradition in order to give kids an example of
what it is to give just for the sake of giving - not because people
were bad or good but that we are all deserving of love.
So that was non-Christmas in my house.
(Yes. My children HATE me. No. Not really. Well. Sometimes.)
As to the situation in "Life is Beautiful," how DO you introduce a
child to the horrors of human inhumanity? Kids are adaptable, yes.
They are. Human beings generally are pretty flexible - and the
rigid ones break FAST so stand back!!!! And always carry a dishrag,
just in case.
I have no idea what kind of study has been done on 'children in
ugly situations' - however, dya all remember that school of
children held captive by terrorist for days and days and days?
Well, HBO or some other cable station did a documentary in which
those kids were interviewed. It was some tough stuff to watch and
there are some severe cases of PTSD. Here is what touched me
most.
First, the children requested that the school NOT be torn down but
left exactly as it was.
Second, all of the people who died on that day are buried in a
separate graveyard, away from the 'town cemetary.'
Third, that the grandmothers are accompanying the children to
school now - most of them illiterate and finally getting an
education.
Should we lie about suffering? Should we candy-coat it? Should we
send First World Kids to Third World Countries to get a taste of
honesty?
I think what was taught most in "Life is Beautiful" is to KEEP
alive your humor, your love for life, your joy for each moment,
your appreciation - despite the circumstances around you. Joy as
the context, joy as the result.
We do LEARN to be human, after all, don't we? In these situations
(situations that still go on - right now right now right now) I
think we have to strike a balance between honesty and relieving
suffering. How do we become compassionate? By suffering and by
observing the suffering of others.
I'll tellya this, honestly, that my suffering seems tiny in
comparison to what I see around me. Praps my suffering is more
about 'dearth of stuff' than lack of it but I do ache for people, I
really do.
OH! And as "metro NYC area" folks, children witnessed the events of
09/11/2001 first hand. There was no way that we COULD lie about it,
was there? Children lost parents and other relatives. Children
watched as classmates waited for word about friends and
family.
Is it fair to shield them?
NEXT installment - because I'm running for a bus - is the story
about my father, sweet young Quaker man, first introduced to
'humankind' as a photographer in WW2.
But another time for that.
Until then, Easy Sarva HRI, yall.
Winter
