jakemarley

"All You Need Is Love" - The Beatles

Love, love, love
Love, love, love
Love, love, love

There's nothing you can do that can't be done
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy

There's nothing you can make that can't me made
No one you can save that can't be saved
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time
It's easy

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

Love, love, love
Love, love, love
Love, love, love

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

There's nothing you can know that isn't known
Nothing you can see that isn't shown
No where you can be that isn't where you're meant to be
It's easy

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need
Love is all you need
That is all you need
That is all you need
That is all you need
That is all you need

---

I have been reading a story to my kinder kids about two hares who are telling each other how much one loves the other. The little nutbrown hare, being smaller, can never stretch his arms or legs more than the big nutbrown hare to describe how big his love is. Of course, this story tickles me pink, and the kids like it too.

After the story, though, I had them draw someone they love. The girls did fine, but the boys mostly drew tanks and rockets. This sincerely and profoundly disturbed me, and I was very close to breaking into tears right there in class. The only thing that stopped me was the thought that I wouldn't be able to explain to them why I was crying and that would just upset them. These children are 6 and 7 years old, and already violence is a part of their nature. The sexism didn't surprise me. I try to make my kids play in mixed sex teams, but I am rarely successful. My girls are terribly quiet and I am always trying to get them to talk louder and with more confidence, but sometimes I put too much pressure on them and they get frightened and withdraw even more.

I'm not trying to impose my Western ideals on Korean children. I would just like my girls to grow up with the choice to behave like a lady or not, to work where they choose and advance to any position which they merit, and to have a choice on whether or not they want to give blow-jobs in a massage parlor. I would like all my children to know something about America other than Booshy and his missiles pointed at the other Korea. I would like my boys to want to have the choice to never waste a couple years of their life in the military. I don't want any of them to grow up worrying whether or not they will see adulthood or they will be vaporized in a nuclear holocaust ... much like I did.

At least my children know what a peace sign is and what it means!