Goodness comes from within us. We owe it to ourselves to rekindle and spread it ... and it starts with our children!

I absolutely love and agree with this statement from Eckhart Tolle on goodness :

“You do not become good by trying to be good,
but by finding the goodness that is already within you
and allowing that goodness to emerge.”

I strongly believe we were all born with goodness in us.

Take a look at children from the time they are born till the ages six to nine. Their innocence and dependency on adults are nothing short of touching and heart warming. When they turn three and above, and start responding to their parents and loved ones, one can truly feel the happiness in them especially when they respond with smiles and laughter. I’ll never forget this when our two sons were at that age. It was such a joyous feeling and it was incredibly moving. Even as they are all grown up now, I’ll never forget those moments.

When they are sent to pre-school and meet other kids of the same age, there are no judgements, discriminations or complaints. They simply get along and interact with one another. I often wonder why adults can’t do the same?

At the age of seven and above, when they become more knowing, questioning and wondering about things as their mental faculties and emotional feelings are being developed, they start responding emotionally as they are unable to understand, grasp and control the intricacies of their thoughts in relation to their actions, feelings and experiences. This is where parents and adults play such an important role in guiding, explaining, encouraging and most importantly, disciplining them.

People in this world, in my opinion, have gone completely off-track now more so than ever. Gone are the simple pleasures of living and civil ways of treating one another and being replaced with greed, a me-first attitude, prejudices and indifference to the plight of others. And if parents and adults do not teach children strong values and proper behavior, is it any wonder, coupled with the way people have changed, that these children will grow up leaving the goodness in them behind?

We see this playing out in today’s society time and time again! We see it in the malls when kids throw their tantrums and parents are at a loss on what to do; in schools when students have no regard for teachers or studies; kids bullying others; kids spending too much time on tablets and computers with no control from parents and the list goes on.

What kind of world do we want our kids to live in? How do we want them to survive in peace and harmony if adults abandon their duty and responsibility to nurture and help them to harness the goodness that’s in them? To teach them how important it is to love, respect, tolerate and forgive others, be humble and less materialistic.

As I have always maintained, it starts with the individual. It’s never too late for adults to will the goodness that’s already in them and then pass this on to their children. I understand life is complicated and every person’s circumstance is different from one another. But I firmly believe if we let common sense and decency prevail, the goodness in us will emerge and it can spread like wildfire!

Let’s start inspiring and spreading goodness through the power of words!