I see You

May 1, 2012

Every child needs to see someone’s eyes light up in recognition, with a look which says, “I see you, and you matter to me.” 

 At some point, almost every child, youth and adult feels parched for meaningful recognition. By identifying a virtue in a child and naming it, you will see their eyes light up in recognition – of their own value.

~ Linda Kavelin Popov (The Virtues Project – Simple Ways to Create a Culture of Character)

One of the greatest and highest expressions of love from a parent to a child is to wholly love and honour the child – simply for her own sake.

I can think of nothing as crushing and confusing to a child than to feel that the recognition of her worth and her parent’s approval are measured only by her outward performance. To acknowledge the value of a child only on this level of form is to fail to recognise and revere the inherent value that exists on the level of being.

Sometimes as parents we attend to the outward attainments and achievements of our children with much more drive and diligence than the cultivation of the child’s higher and nobler self derived through the purification of character, rectification of conduct and moral excellence.

A child is like a seed. Through the tender care and careful nurturing of the gardener does the seed germinate and release its full potential of becoming a tree. The gardener does not only see a tiny seed before him but the inherent and latent strength of a tree within that seed.

True education is the rays of sunlight that draws the seed out of itself and virtues are the fruits of the tree.

And so teaching virtues to our children is not simply about meeting social and cultural expectations or a display of beautiful manners. Its primary importance lies in the fact that we recognise within these young ones a higher capacity for greatness. We respond to their true value as a human being. Virtues are the light of God reflecting from within each of us. It gives purpose and meaning to life and resonates with our truest self.

To truly see someone is to see the depth of goodness in them.

By doing that, we raise up a new race of noble men and women who are sincerely kind to each other, live in selfless service for others and contribute to the betterment of this world.

In our deepest moments we have all yearned for someone to stop and take a good long look at us and truly see us. And to love and cherish us for all that we are in our deepest selves. How often in the face of such a love, we become the realisation of all our hidden potentials and we become a source of light to the world.

“Man is the supreme Talisman. Lack of a proper education hath, however, deprived him of that which he doth inherently possess…The Great Being saith: Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit therefrom.” 

 ~ Bahá’u’lláh (Lawh-i-Maqsúd)

Post navigation

← Works of Art

The Talisman →