All Children Need a Laptop

I was honored to be invited to la fiesta del cumpleanos del abuelo - grandpa's birthday party - with the extended family next door. Beautiful people who fled the tragedy we Americans helped to create in El Salvador more than a decade ago. The grandparents are hardworking proud landowners who have seen too many loved ones disappear and find them floating days later in the river. The next generation are hardworking proud homeowners who seek to make a new life for their children here while holding fast to the values and visions of the old.

I see a prototype of Calvary in this passing on of values and vision. We have elders who remember the glory of this church in days gone by. And we have young ones who dream new dreams of a day yet to be. When we celebrate and remember who we are, we rejoice mostly in Whose we are -- and that we belong.

One of the blessings of this large Salvadoran family is the way they care for one another. The many adult sisters touch each other so lovingly, rubbing a pregnant tummy, stroking black silken hair, leaning on each other as they laugh and talk. They outdo one another in showing hospitality, bringing sopa and tortillas, limons, pollo - especially honoring mama y papa.

What really impressed me was the way they love their children - all their children. It was unclear to me which happy ninos belonged to which parents. They obviously all belonged to them all. Little ones climbed on any lap, leaned against any breast, received food from any hand.

Some say it takes a village to raise a child. Jesus said, "Let the little ones come to me, for to such belongs the realm of God!" We say, let the church be the body of Christ. (Have you read Nicole's mothering thanks in the March newsletter?)

My Starbucks cup says it this way (The Way I See It #273):

All children need a laptop.
Not a computer, but a human laptop.
Mom, dads, grannies and grandpas, aunts, uncles --
someone to hold them, read to them, teach them.
Loved ones who will embrace them
and pass on the experience, rituals and
knowledge of a hundred previous generations.
Loved ones who will pass to the next generation
their expectations of them,
their hopes, and
their dreams.

~ General Colin L. Powell
Founder of America's Promise -

The Alliance for Youth