Massive heat wave, globe-trotting Saharan dust cloud, murder hornets, ongoing global pandemic, Great Depression-Era unemployment rates, nationwide protests and unrest in both small and large cities; who knows what else may be happening between when I write this and when it gets published? People joke on Twitter about every new event “not being on their Bingo card for 2020,” but there’s not a lot about life that feels very funny right now. I feel overwhelmed sometimes; what must the younger kids must be thinking and feeling? They are often more aware than we realize.

My sister-in-law, a flight attendant, called us the morning of Sept.11, 2001. “Is the news on? Don’t turn on the news. It’s really bad. The kids shouldn’t see it.” I told my husband, who went straight to the TV, changing it from Arthur to the morning news. Airplanes flew into buildings, buildings turned to dust before our very eyes; palpable fear filled the airwaves.

How do we protect our kids from bad news? Should we protect our kids from bad news? Should we protect them from uncomfortable truths? Truths like “There’s a virus that we can’t control that might kill Grandpa. A dust cloud from thousands of miles away might cause your asthma to get worse for a few days. Or, we need to wait to buy the new (fill in the blank) until we get our jobs back. Maybe even, that the peaceful protestors marching day after day on TV do have a basic point—that black lives matter intensely to God, who created them in his image, and that this is true, even if we don’t like all the looting and burning of police cars and tearing down of statues that have also taken place.

These are difficult conversations for adults, let alone kids. Myself, I have a personal aversion to protests. When I grew up in the 60s in Ohio, I learned very young that innocent people can die as a result of them. Growing up in a town near Kent State University, I almost became a casualty of police cars streaming at high speed toward the campus the day students were shot and killed while protesting the bombing of Cambodia. My dad’s quick reactions pulled our car off the road just in the nick of time. Protests are close to the top of the list of things I don’t want to participate in.

You might wonder, then, why I included a protest scene in one of my children’s novels, Sophie Topfeather, Superstar! It came about naturally. Sophie, a Great Horned Owl, reads “Do to others what you would have them do to you,” from Matthew 7:12, at the same time that she observes her best little buddy, Timley Mouse, becoming terrified over the prospect of becoming the bait in the “highlight of the year”—the Ultimate Rodent Run-Down, an event at the big fall fair. She and their other friends paint signs and protest the event because she realizes she would want others to do that for her if she was being targeted, dangled in mid-air and chased down in front of a live audience before being eaten as the grand prize. Her love for her diminutive and defenseless mouse friend demands no less. And, like many protestors, she pays a price for this love and loyalty.

During the past few weeks, we have all had a myriad of thoughts on current events, much of it based on what we read and watch. When we see a Black Lives Matter sign and want to protest, “But all lives matter, right?” (and of course, they do) putting ourselves in a black American’s shoes for a few minutes or hours through story can help us humbly say instead, “God wants me to love my neighbor as myself.  What’s it really like to be black in America today? Why are they in so much pain?” This isn’t an original thought, but when I see a Black Lives Matter sign, I think of Jesus’ parable of the Lost Sheep, the extra care and attention to the one that is in trouble.

For me, it begins with listening. Books, especially children’s books, are great for that, even when we might not agree with every premise or worldview or conclusion. They help us safely leave our comfort zones and deepen our thoughts and conversations. Give one or two a try!

Perhaps begin with this Oscar-winning short film based on the very popular book, Hair Love. If you’ve ever wrestled with a young child’s unruly hair, you’ll relate!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNw8V_Fkw28

Here’s a list of children’s books:

https://picturebooksummit.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/PBSummit-Anti-Racism-Picture-Books-.pdf

Do you want to do some listening and learning more about race in America, too? Here’s a list for adults: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/06/a-reading-list-on-issues-of-race/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=harvard_alumni_gazette&utm_content=haa_ade_all_alumni_2020-06-18

Thank you for listening,

Sonja Anderson