A whole village

Do you ever wonder why we humans get "down" and "depressed?"  It doesn't happen to me a lot, but it does happen.  Most of the time it happens when the guys are on the road and I see a long weekend stretching before me.  When they are home, we rarely have a minute where we aren't doing something. 

When that thought came to me, immediately the answer to my question of why we get depressed came to me.  Solitude.  We humans aren't meant to be alone.  Even in jail, solitary confinement is dreaded.  Why would someone prefer being with inmates where their life could even be in danger, to a cell that they have all to themselves 24 hours a day?  

We were meant to be in community.  A tribe, as Tommy would say.  There is an old saying that goes, "It takes a whole village to raise a child."  The origin is a mystery, but some say it is attributed to an Igbo and Yoruba proverb, whatever that is!  Others say it originated in an ancient African proverb.  Still others believe it came from a Native American Tribe.  Wherever it came from, I like it.

When I was a little girl, I rode my bicycle from sunup to sundown, all over our neighborhood.  All of the children in my neighborhood did that.  Our boys did that.  Jason had a signal with his buddies.  One would stand out in the road and make a grunting noise.  I can't describe it, but could do it for you next time I see you!  Today, we don't dare let our children roam the neighborhood like that. While we were out and about, we also did not do stuff that would make it back to our parents.  If we did do something, we tried our best not to get caught because as sure as we did, our parents found out from one of the other parents.  

No one dares do that today!  If misbehavior is reported to a child's parents, immediately the parents go into defensive mode!  (This is not always true, but it is the rule rather than the exception.)  I wonder what would happen if the whole village decided they had a responsibility to "raise" a child.   It might not be a good thing, but my belief is that we might just be surprised.  I would like to think that the wisdom of a whole village is superior to the wisdom of just one or two people.

Just know if you come to my house and your children misbehave and you don't  correct them, I just might!   Remember....it takes a whole village!

                                                 This painting can be purchased by following this link.