"Where is the Love?"

by Elizabeth on February 9, 2011 · 2 comments

in Adventures, i am random, life

When the Black Eyed Peas performed during the halftime show of the Super Bowl on Sunday it took me back to an old memory, that for no reason other than I feel like it, I’m sharing it with you today.
During the summer of 2004, I spent some time with my cousins who live in Georgia.  I was babysitting the two older girls, then 9 and 7 (they’re high school now – ouch I feel old), and we were dancing around the kitchen to the new, recently released Black Eyed Peas’s song, “Where is the Love”.
The song ended and I was about to break into another dance, when the 7 year old stopped and asked me “what’s terrorism?”.  Before I could even process where she got that question (from the 5th line of the song, or the news for that matter) and form an age-appropriate response, the 9 year old jumped in with the answer.
“Remember those bad guys who flew those planes into those buildings?  That’s terrorism.”
Y’all, I look at those words now and I want to curl up in a ball and cry.  Even then, in my 18-year-old-fresh-out-of-high-school brain, I knew that no 9 year old should be able to answer the question with such a straight up honest answer.  And no 7 year old should even be asking that question.  
As I sit here and look at the pictures I just rearranged in my living room of my younger cousins (ages 9 months to 9 years), my heart bleeds for them.  What sort of world are they growing up in?  When I was little my biggest concerns were who was coming to my birthday party and what color my dance costumes were going to be.  Not real life bad guys who like to blow things up to make statements.
Maybe I’m idealizing my own childhood a little (hey who doesn’t?), but I look at the world, what’s on tv, what’s being said in public, and I wonder where’s the love for these little kids?  When I was little I thought the world was awesome.  Is anyone still telling today’s kids that the world is awesome?  Or are we scaring them with talk of global warming, drug cartels, and terrorism? 
As I watched that Super Bowl performance, I remembered that innocent question, how I felt then, and how I feel now.  I hope that I carry this feeling with me the next time I see my sweet, innocent cousins.  Because someone has to tell them the world is awesome.  Someone has to pass along the love I had for the world as a kid.  And the love I have for the world now. 

Because no serious blog post is complete without a picture of my cat.  And because Caty would like to remind us all that my love (and yours) should be focused on her and scratching her tummy. 

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

1 amber February 9, 2011 at 3:25 pm

no words…

other than i can't wait to meet caty & scratch her tummy (don't let me forget to bring allergy medicine when i come visit!)

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2 withduckandgoose February 9, 2011 at 5:53 pm

I think this sometimes about my own kids and then I realize that it isn't necessarily a bad thing that they know about it. Knowledge=power to grow up and change the course of the world. Besides, children here are lucky compared to those in other parts of the world where they grow up learning to carry and use assault rifles to survive to adolescence.

I guess for now, all you can really do is hope that parents and families are doing what they can to help children realize that a little love goes a long way.

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