Yes, they are simple, they have pictures, but remember how a picture can be a thousand words. Yes. Picture Books are a bonanza. And the market is full of fabulous books. Of real books, about real issues and real people, that can invoke the critical thinker in your children from early on.
We live in a world that we cannot allow our children to grow blind. We cannot turn a blind eye and pretend life is not happening. That life is all roses and games. Life can be great, but life can be shitty. We need to tune our children into reality, away from naivety, in a way they can understand. Picture books are a fabulous tool to that end. For toddlers, preschoolers, elementary school children, middle school children, high school children, college students, adults, grandparents, etc. For all.
So let's begin:
The cruelty of the trans-atlantic slave trade:
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The cruelty of working your life underground, often dying young because of disease; the horror of your children inevitably following your foots steps. If you think this is unpleasant, then amplify this by the suffering of the native Americans in central and south America who died em masse in mines, weeks on end, until their last breath, without sun, without food, without proper air.
Relate this to how limited the naturally occurring resources in the crust are.
It's easy to say that Muslims are bad. As it has been easy to say that Jews are bad. Lets remember that Muslims and Jews were equally hated by christians and equally prosecuted by christians. The cruelty that christians exercised towards the jews and the muslims in the occupied lands is coming back to haunt them. Christians are criminals. So please tell your children that christianity in the past has been the single source of suffering, pain, disease and despicable deaths and tortures.
Nature is our home. If you pay attention in bio class, even if it is Bi-1 in Caltech, you will hear that in nature everything is in balance, and when deviating from the balance, works to go back to the balance, or to a completely new balance. But the drive towards balance, and predictability in nature is a real thing. Nature is finite. The resources in nature are finite. We must manage and plan accordingly. We also should not withhold essential resources, such as water and food, in attempt to subordinate, dehumanize and control people.
People may be different than you. That's not a reason for you to bully them. Let's face it if they are different from you, you are different fro them.
What if the tables were turned?
People with physical disabilities are talented and capable. Sick people are capable. Immigrants are capable. A new person is capable.
There is no reason you can determine someones is less than you, whatever that may mean, just by looking at them. What hidden talents does the person have? How can he surprise you?
People are full of life stories and experiences that are different than yours. You can always learn from them. Taking advantage of someone's disability in order to enrich yourself and to hurt the person is a crime. It's a moral crime.
Why should you be stuck in the comfort of routine? Routine is good and predictable, but routine makes you a human-hater, makes you fearful of everything that is outside of your routine. We as people need to embrace diversity, embrace opportunities to learn, and not fear lack of knowledge and skill, but seek to grow the same. We need to live in comfortable discomfort with our own completeness. Only this way we can meet with open arms others. Only this way we can relate, we can extend a hand, we can understand. Especially, the US, a country of immigrants, is swimming in material reminders that we all came from somewhere else or we don't know where we come from.
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