Do You Matter?
"A person is obligated to say: The entire world was created for my sake." (Talmud, Sanhedrin 37a).
To a child, this is an absolutely obvious fact. He or she is the center and focus of all. Father and mother and the rest of the universe exist merely to cater to his/her needs.
The undesirable aspects of such an attitude are self-evident, and weeding out the negative in man's base instincts is what education is all about. But the egocentric instinct that the child exemplifies has a positive side as well. A child has no problem dealing with an insignificance of self in face of humanity's billions and the vastness of the universe. A child is utterly convinced that his or her existence has meaning and his/her deeds have consequence.
This is the child in ourselves that we must learn to cultivate: the conviction that our every thought and deed is of real, even global, significance.
If you have difficulty accepting this, ask your child. Or the child in you.
Chabad.org adapted by Menachem M Bluming
To a child, this is an absolutely obvious fact. He or she is the center and focus of all. Father and mother and the rest of the universe exist merely to cater to his/her needs.
The undesirable aspects of such an attitude are self-evident, and weeding out the negative in man's base instincts is what education is all about. But the egocentric instinct that the child exemplifies has a positive side as well. A child has no problem dealing with an insignificance of self in face of humanity's billions and the vastness of the universe. A child is utterly convinced that his or her existence has meaning and his/her deeds have consequence.
This is the child in ourselves that we must learn to cultivate: the conviction that our every thought and deed is of real, even global, significance.
If you have difficulty accepting this, ask your child. Or the child in you.
Chabad.org adapted by Menachem M Bluming