From the Mouths of Babes

I rediscovered this video recently and it sent my thoughts in two directions.



My first thought was around how rapidly and drastically our environment is changing. And by environment I don't just mean the literal health of our planet but also society and how the increased connectivity has impacted our awareness and sometimes perhaps over exposure to what is happening all over the globe. I can't help but think that what shocked and inspired this young girl in the early 90's (granted her father is an environmental activist so she likely had more exposure than most) is now so common place that children are desensitized to the images and concepts before they even enter kindergarden. In 1992 I never would have thought that my 3 year old niece, who is barely out of diapers, would be able to operate a smartphone with no assistance...there are all sorts of articles and statistics about the impact of technology on kids and for the most part I think the benefits outweigh the risks developmentally, but I do wonder about the exposure factor and if it is desensitizing us as a culture. To be fair, on the flip side, there are definitely benefits to the increased connectivity, take for example, kiva.org where (now that we have this increased awareness of what is happening world wide) anyone can offer a micro loan to someone in a third world country where a mere $25 can save their business which also seemed far fetched in 1992.

The next thought was to remind myself of just how much kids are capable of. I know that I, for one, was not thinking much about these types of big issues when I was her age, I do think that at the time, in the early 90's she and her peers were in the minority for having set their sites on such real and global issues. But even so, the fact that she is there, speaking to these people...As adults it's so easy to diminish the validity of the concerns of kids or even how much of an impact they are capable of having. I know it's easy for me to minimize the thoughts and opinions of the kids in my life. But after watching something like this I can't help but find myself wanting to listen a little closer and encourage kids to get plugged in and pursue what's important to them, including taking action as big as speaking to the UN. It makes me want to commit to really listening to the kids in my life, and wherever possibly encouraging them to look for ways to improve the world around them.