Last week was all about Discovery, which should be a natural tie into this week's #Go52 theme, Imaginative - having or showing creativity or inventiveness. But somehow, this week is different.
“Children need someone to reassure them that play, their own unique, imaginative play is something to be valued.” - Fred Rogers
I have been mulling over this post for the last few days and my mind has struggled to find something positive to say about this week's theme. Today we find ourselves in a space and place where America's past transgressions and history are repeating themselves right before our eyes. With children of asylum seeking families being separated from their parents, labeled with numbers and having no idea if or when they'll have the opportunity to reunite, I found myself at a loss - wondering what to do and how to help.
Now while I can't honestly say that I'm shocked by what's happening, I can say that I'm despondent and beyond disappointed. For the thousands of children currently swept up in this historic and horrendous attack on human rights, their entire life trajectory has been altered. They are being subjected to a trauma so deep, the likes of which could be felt by their own children and any grandchildren they might have.
Your children, your neighbor's children, your nieces, nephews, or Godchildren, your grandchildren, your step-children, your little; imagine what their life would be like if they were torn from your arms or those of their family members seeking asylum in another country because their own was too dangerous to risk residing in. Imagine further what they might likely feel when they are moved to a warehouse full of other crying children and people they don't know, where they are provided with a number, a nap mat, a mylar blanket, no word on what's happening, and they have no one to console them. For the child you have in mind, how would you expect them to feel, to cope, or to recover? And what about you?
My heart is heavy for the families, their children, and the current state of our country. Things are a mess for certain, but if we desire something different for the future, we have an obligation to speak up - be that with our voices, our actions, our votes, and/or our dollars. You don't have to make a public decry about your actions, but sitting idly by and hoping things will change isn't going to help anything. A wish sandwich, while great in theory, still won't fill your belly or nourish your soul. All of that will remain empty.
So pardon me, while I break for a moment to reactivate my mind for some imaginative solutions that will allow me to help in an area where imaginative play is lacking and lives are being devalued.
Because, "If you don't imagine, nothing ever happens at all." John Green said that.
C. L. Fails