Our Future Investments

The shadows engulf me on all sides while I stand in the blazing hot sun looking for some respite from the tireless walking I had been doing all afternoon. I found a large canopy of the Mast tree drooping towards the roadside over the half-broken compound where it stood tall. I always feel that trees have a lot of self-pride for the way they stand tall and long on their ground and a drooping tree is merely an aged soul. Why I am writing this is because of the solace I felt in that intense heat in the shaded enclaves. While walking I was thinking of the story I had been working on for a competition organised by a daily newspaper. As I almost struggled with piecing the sequence of events in my story mentally, I became aware of the surroundings I walked past. The vivid blue mosaic tiles of a nearby recreation centre caught my attention and instantly lifted my spirits. Some colours carry an intense mood changing character like fuchsia, blue, yellow, orange which brighten and uplift a space.

It's always heartening to read about Art Therapy helping people of all age groups cope up with their disabilities and health issues. Children especially take to Art very well when introduced at any age. It's the free-flowing colour palette that sticks with young minds and connects old degenerated ones with the help they require to come back to life. I recently read of a very interesting activity used while interacting with children suffering from psychological health problems. It is the shadow puppet performances. While I am not new to the concept of puppets being used to treat psychological issues since I have seen some plays about the same, shadow puppeting took me by intrigue. It so happens that in the ancient Chinese civilisation, many recreational stories were performed using a giant screen in public viewing for people. The puppeteers would sit behind the screen and work on their puppets with a light source located behind them, casting shadows on the screen. I am very curious about this beautiful form of story-telling and would like to see it once in my lifetime. It definitely makes for an interesting non-digital form of educational recreation methods we could incorporate for school children to enhance their artistic and behavioural skills. We need to stop putting creativity in a box and conforming art forms the way they are being done in schools these days. An apple has to be painted red and any child painting it another colour is immediately corrected. I am reminded of my interpretation of having created white sponge trees in an architectural design project during my first year of architecture school. My professors didn't correct me over it. Art and Architecture are creative mediums to explore one's visionary prowess. The more we keep it free out of conventional and conservative pre-conceived ideas, the more naturally will people's abilities be discovered and encouraged for them to develop their inherent potential.

While my walk conjured up all these ideas and thoughts about cognitive and social development skills, I noticed the exterior of an entire wall along the railway station painted in vibrant colours by young kids as part of an initiative during World Earth Day celebrated on April 22nd, worldwide. The messages made up by kids particularly caught my eye. They ranged from Save Mother Earth to Help Mother Earth live long, We all have two mothers- Mother Earth is the first and many that equalled Heart = Mother Earth. It really fancied me that we teach children perhaps unconsciously about behaving politically correct despite not helping them develop a political or social consciousness from young age, Our conversations on politics and worldly issues as adults in the family are constantly being absorbed by kids who are listening, hanging and storing every word that we speak in front of them. We choose to ignore talking to them about serious and complex issues thinking they are too young for grasping but we really undermine their sense of linking information together and asking questions. Always encourage kids to ask questions. It's the best ever training in communication skills they will acquire over their lifetime. Unfortunately, we live in times of political unrest, economic failures of nations worldwide hence, it becomes even more relevant to encourage kids to ask questions freely about the world they inhabit. Sure the subjects might be out of their complete understanding but this carefully developed habit will make them better people.

When I was 15 I knew a young kid of about six years old, who asked a lot of questions and in his mother's words, "wouldn't stop pestering her." Whenever I met him, we ended up laughing together and having amazing conversations each time. They ranged from Jelly Fish, blowing bubbles with the help of straws, his favourite song those days that was Macarena, counting stars and wondering why there was only one moon and one sun, painting the sea pebbles he found on his trips to the sea and a lot of exciting kid stuff that amused me and also enthralled me because I was a kid too. It was a mad foray into so many things which a child's raw and ever-curious mind delved into. It was an education for me while I interacted with him. We ought to give this opportunity and freedom to children all over the world. When I read about kids stuck in war-torn countries and economically disadvantaged countries from the African sub-continent and closer home in South East Asia and Latin America, I rue for the fact that we don't take them as serious future investments. Our global leaders are busy promoting economic and political liberation but no one talks about this very important source of human potential that needs more than investment and attention. Since working on a Social Accountability course, I have come to realise that our fight for equal opportunities must not end on gender but on human capacity of which a huge chunk are children.

It is imperative that we dedicate our focussed energies and investments on securing stable childhood all over the world. The rich do not need more nor do the poor deserve less. Every child is qualified and capable for opportunities that shall help their inherent potential as human beings to be developed and moulded into a collective good. We need collaborations between parents, society and the government to create better human beings of the future. Children are our future and if we invest wisely and sensibly in them now, the world will feel less threatening a place to live in the future.