An Open Letter to our Village

Every child has a village of people helping raise them. These people are family, friends and acquaintances that directly or indirectly influence and shape what the child is exposed to, what the child learns, and how they view the world. This is an open reminder to our larger village.

I don't think you know just how important a role you have. Or perhaps you do. But maybe sometimes you forget. No two parents can raise a child alone. It's too much work over too little time, that requires a physical presence in too many places simultaneously. Without a larger village we would be shattered, on every level, and the quality of the human race would be a stake.

We need you to help our children. We get it wrong so much of the time, they'll need people they can turn to for good advice, for protection (from the world, not from us hopefully), for love, for objectivity and sometimes for sanity. We also need you to help us. We need you to lift our arms when they're tired, to wipe our tears when we cry, to listen when we need a sounding board, and the reward is that you get to share in the most awesome journey of relationship: parenthood.

We live in such a beautiful and ugly world. The good is so often hidden by the big, immediate bad. Our society is filled with prejudices, and without Godly guidance we can so quickly be sucked up into the injustices of it all. For this reason, the way in which you behave and model things for our children is so very important.

It is not okay for you to criticise someone because of their colour, their religion, their gender, or their choices. It is not okay for you to speak nastily and vulgarly to or about others. It is not okay for you to degrade yourselves or those around you. We want our children to understand that people are different, and to love and respect them regardless.

We want - need - you to partner with us. We consider it your responsibility towards us and towards our children to exercise and set an example of tolerance, love, acceptance and respect. We want you to bring hope and change. We want you to teach our children good values. We want you to demonstrate positive attitudes and actions. We want you to sow goodness and security in our lives, and build our children up by your words and actions so that they can be good citizens of the world. This is a such a tricky job, and we cannot do it alone.

I don't think you know just how important a role you have. Or perhaps you do. But maybe sometimes you forget...