CHAPTER 10: Children and the Way of Peace

I MET A COUPLE WHO WERE DETERMINED¹ that they were goingto train their four children in the way of peace. Every night at dinnerthey gave a regular sermon on peace. But one evening I heard thefather scream at the older son.The next evening I heard the older sonscream at the younger son in the same tone of voice.What the parentssaid hadn’t made any impression at all—what they did was whatthe children were following.
Implanting spiritual ideas in children is very important. Manypeople live their entire lives according to the concepts that areimplanted in them in childhood. When children learn they will getthe most attention and love through doing constructive² things, theywill tend to stop doing destructive things. Most important of all,remember that children learn through example. No matter what yousay, it is what you do that will have an influence on them.
This is a very challenging area for parents.Are you training yourchildren in the way of love which is the way of the future?
It concerns me when I see a small child watching the hero shootthe villain³ on television. It is teaching the small child to believe thatshooting people is heroic.The hero just did it and it was effective. Itwas acceptable and the hero was well thought of afterward⁴.
If enough of us find inner peace to affect the institution of television,the little child will see the hero transform the villain andbring him to a good life. He’ll see the hero do something significantto serve fellow human beings. So little children will get the idea thatif you want to be a hero you must help people.
A minister I know spent some time in Russia. He saw no Russianchildren playing with guns. He visited the large toy stores inMoscow, and discovered that there were no toy guns or other toyimplements of destruction for sale.
Peaceful training is given in a few small cultures right within ourlarger culture. I knew a couple who lived for ten or twelve yearsamong the Hopi Indians. They said to me, “Peace, this is amazing—they never hurt anyone.”
I have walked among the Amish people myself. They have sizablecommunities. Peaceful, secure communities with no violence. Italked to them and I realized it’s because they learn, as little childrenonward, that it would be unthinkable to harm a human being. Thereforethey never do it.This can be accomplished⁵ if you are brought upthat way. Once a woman brought her four or five year old daughter overto me and said, “Peace, will you explain to my daughter what is goodand what is bad?” I said to the child, “Bad is something that hurtssomebody.When you eat junk food that hurts you, so that is bad.” Sheunderstood. “Good is something that helps somebody. When youpick up your toys and put them back into your toy box that helpsyour mother, so that is good.” She understood. Sometimes the simplestexplanation is best.
When my folks put me to bed they would say to me very wisely,“It gets dark so that it will be restful for you to sleep. Now go to sleepin the nice friendly, restful darkness.” And so to me darkness hasalways seemed to be friendly and restful. And when I’m either walkingall night to keep warm or sleeping beside the road, there I am, inthe nice, friendly restful darkness.
Children need roots somewhere while they are growing up, andparents might do well to choose the place where they want to raisethem before they have them.

1 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

2 constructive   

adj.建设的，建设性的

参考例句：

• We welcome constructive criticism.我们乐意接受有建设性的批评。
• He is beginning to deal with his anger in a constructive way.他开始用建设性的方法处理自己的怒气。

3 villain   

n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因

参考例句：

• He was cast as the villain in the play.他在戏里扮演反面角色。
• The man who played the villain acted very well.扮演恶棍的那个男演员演得很好。

4 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

5 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。