the thinker

i was watching part of the 60 minute clip on The Lost Boys of the sudan.  my oldest son walked into the living room and announced, “i’m in here…” which is the adult’s cue to turn off the news.  it’s not that i want to shelter him from the world.  in fact, just the opposite.  at the same time, i want him to have his innocence for as long as he can.  one morning i stopped watching the today show because they repeatedly rolled a clip of cheerleaders beating up another girl.  over and over.  it hurts my heart to watch those types of situations sensationalized on tv.  it was about that time, we just gave up on watching the nightly news, too.  hard to watch, hard to explain.

my son was born with a question in his mouth.  and he wasn’t able to verbalize it until he was nearly a year old.  but he started speaking early, and he has never stopped asking questions since.  he is a complex thinker, but is at the social level of kids his age.  burp and fart {i do not like that word} jokes are his thing, but he alienates himself when he explains scientifically why burping and farting {i do not like that word} happen.  and.  it’s really hard to explain things to him in a manner that doesn’t create an awkward social situation with his peers when he repeats what we’ve told him.  i digress.

so we are watching the story of The Lost Boys, and I am tensed waiting for the barrage.  it is the first time in our recorded history that i have just rolled with the news thing and faced the it head on.  the issue is powerful and moving.  not sensational.  just deep and gut wrenching.  “mommy, what is genocide?  what does back lash mean?  why did the boys have to fight?  did they have guns?  did those children kill people?  why would a government do that?  why would an army kidnap children?  what if they got on an airplane and flew to the US?  why did others not save them?  and on and on and on…”  i worked hard to keep the answers simple-ish, but i used the word kill, and wipe out, extinct, etc.  he was a bit freaked out as you can tell by his questions.  genocide, the most reprehensible thought, going through the mind of my once innocent baby now turned eight. 

then he sat straight up and looked at me and said, “i get the point.  if something happened to our neighbors down the street, we should help because we are able.”  he totally gets it.

 

then he told me all about how he saw the Easter Bunny last night in his room.  "mommy, what emotion do easter bunnies have?  how high can they jump?"  complex comprehension brought right down to a second grade level.  i love that boy for his wide open mind.