I am only a child. Yet I know that if all the money spent on war was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful place this would be.
Severn Cullis-SuzukiRead
In school you teach us not to fight with others, to work things out, to respect others, to clean up our mess, not to hurt other creatures, to share, not be greedy. Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do? You grownups say you love us, but I challenge you, please, to make your actions reflect your words.
Interpretation
The quote questions the hypocrisy of adults who preach values but fail to practice them.
Severn Cullis-Suzuki's quote highlights the contradiction between the values taught to children and the actions exhibited by adults. It calls for introspection and accountability among grownups to ensure that their behaviors align with the moral lessons they impart to younger generations, particularly emphasizing respect, kindness, and responsibility towards others and the environment.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of leading by example for children.
I am only a child. Yet I know that if all the money spent on war was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful place this would be.
I was at Earth Summit in Rio 20 years ago... I was only 12 years old. And when I was speaking to the U.N. I was fighting for my future.
In my life, I have dreamt of seeing the great herds of wild animals, jungles and rainforests full of birds and butterflies, but now I wonder if they will even exist for my children to see.
I worry that more and more kids my age are growing up without experiencing the outdoors, which means that fewer will care about the natural world.
Fragmentation is a big part of the problem. You have a city where trash is taken away from the curb every week, and you don't see it any more, and you don't have any sense of where water comes from. So there's no sense of responsibility and accountability and there's also no sense of empowerment for our actions.
Children know perfectly well that unicorns aren’t real, but they also know that books about unicorns, if they are good books, are true books.
Many people are in the dark when it comes to money, and I'm going to turn on the lights.
Reading is socially accepted disassociation. You flip a switch and you’re not there anymore. It’s better than heroin. More effective and cheaper and legal.
The education of attention would be an education par excellence
Are we forming children who are only capable of learning what is already known? Or should we try to develop creative and innovative minds, capable of discovery from the preschool age on, throughout life?
We are human behind and this part of our human nature that we don't learn the importance of anything until it's snatched from our hands. In Pakistan, when we were stopped from going to school, and that time I realized that education is very important, and education is the power for women. And that's why the terrorists are afraid of education. They do not want women to get education because then women will become more powerful.
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