Slowing Down

Dear Friend of WSSB,
Sometimes you see this statement on one of those changeable message signs on the highway: "Slow Down and Save a Life." Slow down and save a life. These words not only apply to driving a car but caring for humans as well. Perhaps more than anything the children of today need someone who will slow down for them, someone who will put down the screen for them, put down hurry, flurry, and self-preoccupation for them, someone who will give them patient, meticulous, unshardable attention. Such work -- the work that is love -- is easier said than done, of course; but it is the work needed.

In a recent, much-discussed piece in The New York Times, journalist David Leonhardt limns the struggles of today’s kids. "American children are starting 2022 in crisis," the essay begins. Leonhardt then touches on the greatest "academic achievement crisis in living memory." Next he explores the "mental health problems" that have prompted the American Academy of Pediatrics to declare "a national state of emergency in children’s mental health." ("Young people have endured so much throughout this pandemic and while much of the attention is often placed on its physical health consequences, we cannot overlook the escalating mental health crisis facing our patients," says Dr. Lee Savio Beers, the American Academy of Pediatrics’ president.) Then Leonhardt outlines the rise in suicide attempts, gun violence against children, and school shootings (which reached a record high in 2021).

Needless to say, the piece is heavy and bewildering. It is also a summons to reflection and compassion.

"There is a person," says a Buddhist scripture, "whose appearance on earth is for the well-being and happiness of all. Who is that person?" Perhaps that person is you and me. Perhaps that person is a teacher; someone who drives a school bus; an aunt or an uncle; a coach. In this new year, may we all strive to be that person. In this new year, for the sake of our children, may we all slow down to help a life. In this new year, may we all reflect on what it might mean to work for the well-being and happiness of all. In this new year, may we strive to see this time not merely as anguished and fearsome but one that is fertile -- earth ripe for good growth and good change.

"All children on Earth are our Children," writes Torrin Finser, "our collective responsibility and sacred trust; the adult community needs to protect and cherish every child." Here at WSSB we endeavor to honor such a charge; and we thank you for supporting us in that work.

In gratitude,

The WSSB Admin Team

PS The quotation of the day is by Martin Luther King Jr. (an excerpt from his Nobel lecture):

"Every man lives in two realms, the internal and the external. The internal is that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals, and religion. The external is that complex of devices, techniques, mechanisms, and instrumentalities by means of which we live. Our problem today is that we have allowed the internal to become lost in the external. We have allowed the means by which we live to outdistance the ends for which we live. So much of modern life can be summarized in that arresting dictum of the poet Thoreau: 'Improved means to an unimproved end.' This is the serious predicament, the deep and haunting problem confronting modern man. If we are to survive today, our moral and spiritual 'lag' must be eliminated. Enlarged material powers spell enlarged peril if there is not proportionate growth of the soul. When the 'without' of man's nature subjugates the 'within,' dark storm clouds begin to form in the world."

PPS The poem of the day is by Japanese poet Issa:

Climb Mount Fuji
O snail
But slowly, slowly!