Asset #7 - Community Values Youth - Young person perceives that adults in the community value youth.

HOW ARE THE CHILDREN?

Reverend Patrick T. O'Nell

Among the most accomplished and fabled tribes of Africa, no tribe was considered to have warriors more fearsome or more intelligent than the mighty Masai warriors. It is perhaps surprising then to learn the traditional greeting that passed between Masai warriors. "Kassrian ingera", one would say to another. It means, "And how are the children?"

It is still the traditional greeting among the Masai, acknowledging the high value that the Masai place on their children's well-being. Even warriors with no children of their own would always give the traditional answer "All the children are well." Meaning, of course, that peace and safety prevail, that the priorities of protecting the young, the powerless, are in place, that the Masie society has not forgotten its reason for being, its proper functions and responsibilities. "All the children are well" means that life is good. It means that the daily struggles of existence, even among a poor people, do not preclude proper caring for its young.

I wonder how it might affect our consciousness of our children's welfare if, in our culture, we took to greeting each other with this same daily question" "And how are the children?" I wonder if we heard that question and passed it along to each other a dozen times a day, if it would begin to make a difference in the reality of how children are thought of or cared for in this country?