A story about my granddaughter Meredith.
Mer and I were in the car together coming home from her school day. She noticed a long stationary train with different box cars, most with some form of noticeable graffiti on the side of the cars. Mer shared the following:
“You know the people who take care of the train cars must be disappointed and frustrated because there is SO much graffiti. I can understand how people have a need to express themselves creatively and hope to have their work seen by others, but it makes a lot of work for someone else.”
Image: Debby Hudson@hudsoncrafted/ Unsplash
I was momentarily speechless as she went on to wonder out loud how you would remove graffiti. Mer had just turned 9 years old. In a world often divided and polarized, Mer seems to have an appreciation of and a willingness to hold, the different perspectives and needs within the same situation.
My first response to Mer was, “You know, not many adults today could hold and express both of those viewpoints.”
Mer and many of the youth today give me hope for a brighter future for everyone and everything.
-Sandy Bell-Cameron, CSJ Associate