Allow me a happy personal note: My 10-year-old son, about a half-hour ago, suddenly asked me out of the blue to talk to him about the Keystone XL. He’d been eavesdropping while I was participating in a LiveStream meeting about the upcoming rally in Washington (2/17), and obviously something he heard struck a chord….
So–he and I talked about KXL, and tar sands mining, and fossil fuels, and climate change, and renewables, and…. That led us into a discussion of how we humans should relate to the Earth, and the role of mind and heart and conscience and spirit, and how we can engage in struggles against “what’s bad,” especially when we have so little power and money, and….
To be honest, until today I’ve never talked much to my son about my activism unless he has directly asked questions. I’m not much interested in indoctrinating my child, though I’ve very much interested in sharing my values with him (a hard balance to strike, as some of you other parents out there know). And I think he was glad about that, until now, because, as he told me at at the end of our conversation, he’d always believed that what I did was “sort of boring” but didn’t want to say so for fear of hurting my feelings. (Smile.)
But today, as we talked, he grew more and more engaged, asked lots of questions, then said emphatically that he just has to do something to help in the struggle against KXL. He was so enthusiastic, I scarcely could keep up with his rapid thoughts. Right away we started brainstorming ways that he might get involved. Nothing took hold, but our conversation will be ongoing, because obviously a big light has switched on for him.
He was downright radiant. I was so proud to be a witness to that. And now I get to be his partner! How cool.
If I had the money, I’d take him with me to Washington for the 2/17 rally. It will be hard, now, to be there without him.
Next time. I’m sure there will be one….. “}” href=”http://www.facebook.com/fastfortheearth?ref=hl#” id=”.reactRoot[17]” title=”Like this item”>
