Coming together with Compassion:
Children Respond to the Tragedy in Southeast Asia
By Tracey L. Hurd, Ph.D.
Lifespan Faith Development Staff Group,
Unitarian Universalist Association
The images are so clear: homes and communities gone; children without families,
parents without their children; hurt, despair. Children and adults alike glance
at the newspaper awed by the magnitude of destruction. The losses suffered are
overwhelming for all of us— and although children don’t understand
all the complexities, they care deeply. Not having a home or a school or a parent…
these are accessible hurts that children understand. And they want to help.
My daughter says, “Let’s have a bake sale at church.” On
the radio I hear a fifteen year-old talk about going door to door with friends,
collecting money for the Tsunami relief fund amounting to over fifteen thousand
dollars. At a nearby elementary school a girl asks for a school community vote:
Can the pennies collected toward the new climbing structure be donated, instead,
to children in need in Southeast Asia? In a local parish, the religious educator
helps children write prayers and hopes to send aid.
We are drawn together in care. We experience empathy as a core human value
together. We see the suffering of Southeast Asia, and we realize that these
are truly our neighbors and they are in need. Across the generations, we share
a sense of purpose and strength.
All of us want to contribute. Although often media images are inappropriate
for very young children, many see them inadvertently and most older children
consume Internet blurbs, television images, and newspapers with interest. Channeling
children’s natural compassion and wish to help requires listening to their
concerns and visions. Thinking and talking together, children and adults can
develop a plan. We can work together as people of faith, guided by our Unitarian
Universalist Principles and our sustaining faith communities. We can raise money
together, pray together, and covenant to keep our Southeast Asian neighbors
in our hearts during the months and years of rebuilding ahead. We can have gratitude
that we are able to come together in compassion.
“People are weeping, people despair
And people, one by one, are lending a hand
As best they can, however they can, wherever they can
And so must I; so must I.
Great Spirit of Life
On this day, let this be my simple prayer:
So must I. So must I.”
-- Rev. Olivia Holmes
(Excerpt from People
are Weeping, People Despair: A Prayer for Victims of Tsunami- A Prayer for
the World)
Resources:
>>Liturgical Resources for
Reflection on the Indian Ocean Tsunami
|
,
National Association for the Education of Young Children 
