The end of innocence...?

Modern society looks at children as "Innocent" as people who must be "Protected". Part of this rhetoric comes from what anthropologists call "the golden period", the time when we were young and everything we did was magical and cute. A time when we dreamt of princes and kings of fair maidens and fairies. Childhood represents the essence of goodness in all of us before we got "corrupted" by society.

We have special laws that protect this innocence. Laws protect innocent children from sexual predators, from having to work, from consuming corrupting substances like alchohol. We also protect our children from having to view some of the worst aspects of culture through censorship laws. Needless to say children should not be burdened with serious responsibilities of the state, hence they are not allowed to vote.

Between Wed Sept 1 to Fri Sept 3 all this changed at Beslan ( go for a time line of what happened: http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/09/03/russia.school.timeline.ap/index.html.). No longer can we say the affairs of adults are seperate from the affairs of children. Many voices across the world asked "what have these children done?".

I didn't have an idyllic childhood. No, I was not abused, brought up in poverty, nor did I have to see my own friends buried alive when the school gym collapsed, however, I would not like to re-live my childhood all over again. Maybe it is heresy to challenge the idyllic childhood envisioned by modern society?

I have seen children working. Working in restaurants, shops, as delivery boys. These children work to make a little money for themselves and to support their families, because EVERYONE counts. They are not the castrated children of modern society, they are economically contributing members of thier families and communities. These children are not subject to censorship. They grow up seeing the best and worst that soceity has to offer.

I have seen television stations screen out the slightest hints of SEX when it comes to children... and to a LESSER (???) extent violence. Yet Tom and Jerry contain some of the most violent scenes with the possible exception of coyote and the road runner.

Maybe, just maybe, children in our society are over protected? Worst still our protection mechanisms CANNOT hope to be perfect. Do you think your children do not see those censored material? Do you think they dont know about statesmanship? In my home state there was a major debate about whether politics should be allowed in schools. Why the debate? Why cant our children be part of the state too?

Through our practices and laws, we have made childhood one of the most frustrating stages of life. We have NOT succeeded in protecting our children's innocence, we never will. All we have done is to cut off all hope of being prepared for the world. When something like Beslan happens neither the children nor we are ready. The best we can do is to wring our hands in despair and issue more pompous words.

It is time we stopped oppressing our children in the name of protecting them. It is time for us to listen to them and, instead of telling them what they should see and what they should think and do, it is time we asked them what they DO see and what they DO think. Maybe we got it WRONG and they got it RIGHT? Can we take that possibility?