What is it to care?

Dear Young Friends,

I wonder if you have ever asked yourself why you have to go to school year after year. Your parents pack you off to the kinder garden when you are only 3 and then for next 14 years it the same routine. You may change your school in between but every where it is the same story. You learn to read and write, if you are lucky to get good teachers you begin to enjoy learning new things. History, Geography, Mathematics, Science, Literature and so open your minds to the extra ordinary achievements of mankind.

What else do you learn at school? Perhaps you also discover your interests and talent of music, drama, dance or games and so on. Also, you learn about discipline, respect and behavior.

But isn't there another whole area of Life that you would like to be aware of, be introduced to - the world of thoughts and feelings inside you? Must you not learn how to are hurt sometimes, what are the things that make you angry and how to deal with them or what your fears are and how they affect your relationship with teachers or parents or friends?

Don't you want to know how to respond to beauty in trees, plants and animals around you or how you feel when you see human beings suffer?

There was a religious teacher in recent times whose name was J Krishnamurti ( 1895-1986). He cared deeply for children. He often said you can learn much more from looking at life around you than from books. He wanted you to question everything, find out and learn for yourself directly and not depend on others. That way, you can learn about your feelings, your fears and anxieties, your hopes and joys and about all that goes on inside you.