Living, learning and loving

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 11/05/2007 5:07 PM  |  Opinion

Susan J. Natih, Jakarta

Over the past decade, the word ""real"" has taken on many new meanings. Advertising campaigns for soft drinks promote products as ""the real thing"", our friends tell us to ""get real"", and our children are spellbound by the ever increasing sophistication of ""virtual reality"" and too often endangered by reality TV. Satellite pictures not only acquaint us with a breathtaking diversity of life forms but also bring the harsh realities of war and man-made and natural disasters into our homes. For every child, this poses the question, ""What is real?"" and ""Who is the real me?""

As the media increasingly suggests to children that the ""real world"" is a place that gives the highest value to things, it becomes increasingly important for schools and families to work together, leaving children in no doubt the real world is one where people are important and where genuine caring and honest communication reflect our true identity.

The quick response of neighboring nations in helping to extinguish the recent fires in Greece and to assist farmers in replanting rather than relocating demonstrates a shared commitment to problem solving and respecting the ancestral knowledge of farmers in the region. It is also surely through the union, care and timely intervention of the world's great nations that the atrocities now being perpetrated in Myanmar can be halted and the right to a peaceful existence made a reality for the long suffering Myanmarese people.

In school when we encourage children to identify and seek solutions to problems, we are demonstrating that a problem is a call for us to open up our consciousness and view a situation from a different perspective. There may be many different routes to choose from in solving a problem. Allowing a child to choose a route which suits his particular learning style helps develop his understanding and confidence.

Whether we are school teachers or nation leaders, when we stubbornly cling to our own point of view we may miss the very awareness we need in order to master the situation at hand.

In September, the United Nations Convention on Climate Change addressed the growing reality of global warming while reports from the World Conservation Union pointed to the responsibilities that human beings have not only for each other but also for the many other life forms on earth. We are told that 16,300 plant and animal species are currently threatened with extinction, among these the Bornean and Sumatran orangutans and Banggai cardinal fish of Indonesia, 900,000 of which are caught every year to be put into aquariums.

As a child I delighted in my eldest brother's aquarium, loved having a pet dog and cats, and once proudly took my middle brother's tarantula to school for show and tell. The show and tell was very brief as my horrified Grade 2 teacher hastily bore the hairy insect in its perforated paper-topped old milk bottle to the biology lab. Shortly afterward the unfortunate spider became a dried specimen and part of school and family history.

At home and at school with guidance from adults, looking after fish, insects, birds and animals can involve children in acts of care and kindness. The virtue of gentleness is readily learned through the sense of touch, and children begin to understand which creatures can flourish in domestic conditions and which ones need to live, untouched, in their own natural habitat.

Taking care of the needs of domestic and wild animals introduces children to concepts of commitment and ownership. When children make a commitment to looking after their pets or decide only to choose non-endangered fish species for their aquariums, they are enthusiastically taking charge of their own learning. As teachers and parents, when we decide that we ""can"" rather than ""can't"" do a particular project with a child, our enthusiasm is catching, and it gets results.

Animals, real and mythical, have been inextricably intertwined with the existence and beliefs of human beings since time immemorial. Walking along the corridors of our schools, it is clear that this is still very much the case. Shoals of fish, dainty butterflies and big cats dart, flutter and prowl along the walls, testament to children's delightful creativity.

Meanwhile charts, handmade books and poems reflect not only concern for our planet but also that children are highly motivated when we give them the opportunity to write about things they enjoy -- family outings to the beach, riding ponies in the mountains, or even a trip with teachers and classmates to see the primates at Ragunan.

On Oct. 15 every year we are called on to think about the rights of animals, and on Oct. 24, to commemorate the founding of the UN. May these occasions inspire us and our children to make the right choices and to know that the real world is a world of kindness, caring, vision and service.

With children let us ""walk the path of kindness, take the little moments of life and weave them into gold.""

The writer is a founder and adviser of Central and Sevilla schools.

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