When William
Wordsworth the great English poet-laureate and leading English romantic
poet of the 19th century wrote his famous poem, “The Rainbow,” he included in it the
expression:
“The child is father of the man”
Since then, that
observation has become a very popular and an often repeated statement in the
English language, as well as in a large number of foreign languages and
cultures.
Although at first glance the statement appears to be
paradoxical, a closer look reveals that he was, in fact, trying to convey a
profound message worthy of serious consideration. He was trying to remind us
that the adult was the product of all that had happened to him during his
childhood. That he was the end result, or the sum total, of all the positive
and negative traits he acquired, and the values, habits and behaviors he
adopted, as he developed over the course of his childhood years. And equally
important, it also reminded us the ultimate nature of the man’s personality and
its direction, for good or not, can be traced to the exposures of childhood.
In a wider sense, it can be viewed as a rhetorical
reflection on the very nature of life itself. In a way, Life can be visualized
as a continuous stream which begins at birth and flows relentlessly on its journey
to eternity. As it does, it is molded by the events that affect it along the
way, becoming turbulent when it encounters boulders and rocks, and smooth and
placid when it flows over sandy ground. Whether it ends up as a gentle
free-flowing stream or a relentless turbulent river is determined by the
experiences encountered during its early life and the lessons learnt from them.
In the same way, our choice of a life of turmoil and conflict or one of peace,
respect and caring is determined to a large extent by our experiences and our
learning during those formative years.
Indeed it does not require a
psychologist to demonstrate that children at play will exhibit characteristics
which remain with them permanently. Equally, it is not difficult to appreciate
that a child, who is allowed to grow with negative characteristics without
correction, will grow up with them. Or a child growing up in a dysfunctional or
abusive home will inevitably enter adulthood loaded with antagonism and
aggression. On the other hand children, groomed in a stable home with healthy
habits and attitudes will grow up to be balanced, healthy and mature
individuals. This is a truth in all of nature where the ultimate fruit is
always related to the ground in which the seed is planted; A seed planted in
fertile, rich soil invariably results in a stronger tree and abundance of good
fruit, while one planted in rocky soil grows scrawny, and produces much fewer
and smaller fruit. This is, and always has been, the way of nature.
In
the end, the message to be taken from Wordsworth’s wonderful poem reverberates
over and over wherever and whenever children are exposed to any wrong
influences. That we as adults must never forget this fact; that the child of
today will be the adult of tomorrow and that whatever we do with them today
will affect the person they will become, tomorrow. We must set the standard
that they will follow, as Clarence B.
Kelland, the prolific American author, so accurately observed when he wrote:
“My father didn’t tell me how to
live;
He lived, and let me watch him do
it.”
-No better advice can be given to every adult on
whom a child depends to become the best man he can be.
< >
No comments:
Post a Comment