Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish student at Tufts University, wrote about it The Guardian about being abducted by masked men and detained by US immigration officials even though she had a student visa. she”crime” was that he wrote a letter in a student newspaper about the need to protect children in Gaza, not hurt or kill them. child development.
Ozturk was touched to learn that people all over the world care about him and his arrest:
“I often wonder: if they knew what it means that suffering children are cared for by so many people all over the world. My support helped me understand that even a few minutes of attention can change someone’s path to healing. I believe that this kind of care can help children who are suffering, even thousands of miles away. What if we only offer a few moments of our lives to take care of them?
Sadness is a testament to our humanity, a sign that we feel the numbness rather than giving in to it. Grieving for suffering children who bear the cost of crimes they did not commit and who are caught up in the consequences of someone else’s usurpation of power is also a way to build a global community united by caring. As James Baldwin said, “Children are always ours, every one of them, all over the world.”
Grief allows for processing and connecting space. It can also promote action.”
King Matt I
Ozturk’s beautiful words reminded me of the novel King Matthew the Firstby my hero Janusz Korczak. Korczak was a Polish-Jewish pediatrician and writer who had a strong commitment to the rights of children and the responsibility of adults to protect those rights.
In the novel, a sheltered and very selfish young prince becomes king at a young age. He envisions a just world where wars and conflicts are eliminated because of the solidarity of children around the world. It envisions all children everywhere uniting under a green banner of hope.
Although intended for children, King Matthew the First does not have a happy ending. Matt reforms because of the hypocrisy of adults who can’t bear to give up their power and because he goals they are so great.
Korchak’s life did not have a happy ending either. He was taken by Nazi soldiers, along with 200 children from his orphanage, from the Warsaw Jewish Ghetto to a train headed for Treblinka. concentration the camp No one survived. Korczak was offered the chance to escape deportation because he was a highly respected figure in pre-war Poland, known as the “Old Doctor”. He refused and said that the children would be more afraid without him. Instead, he walked with the children holding a handmade replica of King Matt’s green flag.
I believe that every happy ending should be ours, a century later King Matt published for the first time. It is up to us not only to mourn past and present losses, but to act for the future.
I’m sure no one, child or adult, would be happier than Matt to unite the children of the world to overcome all our differences and grievances. But I also believe that each of us can do our part.
Supporting children, in ways big and small
I recently discussed these topics with a group of parent educators. A mother who supports adoptive and foster parents has spoken about helping her teenage daughter deal with the painful flood of information about war and human suffering, especially the suffering of children. The group was supportive of the way this mother was for her child without being overly protective. She saw that she didn’t need to shield her daughter from reality, but that she needed time and space to process all of this injury. Although he was so successful in his home and gave so much to other families, he apologized that it was not enough to solve the great problems of the world. The members of the group interfered with his self-criticism. We were encouraged by his daughter’s protection. We all found it very meaningful, because there is no small action. Everything we do ripples outward.
Meaningful action—whether it’s supporting one child or moving the world closer to caring for every child—requires us to brave grief and pain. Action requires us to remember to feel joy and share our joy, because joy is not to refuse sadness, but the right balance for it. It’s a paradox that joy can be a better motivator than despair.
Some questions for self-awareness
If you’re wondering where to start, here are some questions to ask yourself or discuss with other parents or anyone concerned about children:
- What does it mean to care for every child in the world as if they were our own?
- It is important to be honest with children; they can always “smell” it when we aren’t. However, when we talk about painful realities, such as children dying in war or explosions, we tend to lower the full volume of our emotions. To help our children process all of this, it helps if we have a place to express the full range of our emotions. Do you have that place?
- What will help you cope with grief and feel when you are sad, numb or protect or mask the grief with it. anger?
- What makes you happy?
- What motivates you to take action? Can you believe in the power of each small step instead of feeling like it’s not enough? This first step leads to the future and the future.
