consumed

When you look at a child, what do you see? If I am graced with such presence, the rest of the world and everything in view peacefully disappears and all I see is the innocent and mysterious life that stands in front of me. Being a mother has given me the gift of empathy. While I've always had a sensitive soul, more often than not I ponder that root. I've recently been reading a book about teaching tolerance to children about the world's differences as well as being empathetic to any child's background. But can empathy be taught? I definitely feel that a person is born with a leveled amount of compassion and empathy, but through life circumstances that trait either grows or fades. Empathy can come in many forms. It is silent by the way someone feels deep in thier heart. It is loud by the way someone acts and creates awareness through beliefs, that untimately, are driven by a persons true empathy. The more I dig deep, the more I realize that children are the true divine root of all empathy in the world. As children ourselves at one point in our lives, we were young and innocently blinded to the world's prejudice's. We were interested in people's differences whether it be color, shapes, or sizes. Curious in a way that demonstrated compassion and empathy. Unconditional love shined as little children, when we wanted to understand when someone was hurt or sad, and not judge them. A time when we wanted the whole Universe to be on our same page, and if they weren't, it was up to us to make them feel welcome, as if everyone belonged. I see it happen everyday. As I recently was given the amazing opportunity to teach, being an early educator has opened my eyes even more. As an example, the children don't see color as a form of labeling, but more as a fact and a trait to be recognized. When asked to color in thier traced hands on paper the color of their skin, they came up with genuine colors such as red, gray, and 'dark'. I think the best thing to take away from a child's view on the world is their freedom. The freedom and excuse to be curious and compassionate as young, empathetic, beings. Questioning everything, then on a quest to understand.