Doing His Part

It's a lot. It's a lot a lot. So much is going on in the world right now that has never happened in our lifetime. We are in the middle of a pandemic where almost everything is closed down, and recently there have been uprisings through out the country in response to police brutality, political division, and race inequality. With so much uncertainty and such big issues, Diana and I have really struggled with how to discuss it with our son. He's only 8 years old, and very innocent, so a lot of these huge issues seem impossible to us for him to wrap his mind around them and understand the challenges and nuances to what's going on. We've decided that he needs to be aware of these things, he needs to be informed about the world and how it works. We were delicate in how we explained it all and he did a great job processing it all and trying to make sense of it. His question for us at the end of the conversation was 'what can I do about it?'. He wanted to do his part in trying to help. We talked with him about how he can't fix it, but he can use what gifts he had to make a change. He thought about it and said 'The only thing I'm good at is drawing.' Well, how can he use that to make a difference? We talked it over and he decided that he was going to draw a picture that will 'make the world a better place!' After he was done we decided what we should do with it. We made a dozen copies of his illustration and went downtown Allegan with them. We stopped in each of the shops and businesses that were open and asked if we could post his illustration on the window as a way of encouraging others to do good in the world. A few were willing, so we posted them up! When we got back home he was feeling pretty good about the small amount he was able to do to make our little town a better place! We are so proud of him for caring and wanting to do his part!
(more pics)