The Making of a Revolutionary
When my oldest daughter was 2 and first learned the sad hard truth of the chicken nugget, she formed a revolt. “The Chicken Nuggets Must Live!” she shouted, tiny fist in air.
She’s turning 8 this Halloween, and while she still eats the occasional nugget (see my tweet on how my children were contemplating a world where nuggets were made of people, butterflies and dinosaurs), she is still a revolutionary. And, the staunchest environmentalist I know.
I have been recycling and sometimes composting since she was born. She went to a Waldorf School for her first year, and she loves animals and nature. It’s not surprising then, that she doesn’t want the earth to die. What is surprising to me is how consistent she is in the little things.
She will pick up the grossest, nastiest piece of garbage you can imagine, and walk blocks to find a proper receptacle for it. As a mother, I cringe. And caution. And buy her gloves. As a human, I applaud her. (I do this as her mom too, don’t get me wrong.) She even cleans up lunch trash while other kids play. And she is making a difference. With each piece of garbage she picks up, she is saving something of our earth for the future.
Lessons from the Young
So often we as grown-ups get so burdened by oil spills and toxic waste and ozone layers that we forget to bend down and pick up that paper on the sidewalk. Yes, we need to be conscious of the global impact our collective choices make. But, don’t let those issues become so overwhelming as to paralyze you from the simple day-to-day things we all can do to make life more beautiful.
The other day when we got home from work/school, she saw some trash on the grass in our apartment complex and took it to the bin. Then she drew the picture you see above. On her own. Without any prompting. I was floored. And awed. And proud. In case the quality makes it hard, that’s an X in the eye of the deer eating trash, because it will die. (The other deer is smiling btw, and I’m really mostly sure that’s a leg…)
Happy Almost Birthday Honey.  This world is better for having you walk with it.