A comment today on my “Prayers for kids …” post brought to mind an old song lyric. It came to me out of the blue. I couldn’t recall where it was from, or the melody, or anything about it, so of course I Googled it. Turns out that “Carefully Taught” is one of the lesser known songs from the 1949 Broadway show South Pacific.
The song is even more appropriate today than it was in post-WWII America because we and the world still haven’t learned the lesson. Until we stop teaching our children to hate and mistrust, until we stop indoctrinating them with our own prejudices and beliefs and misconceptions, the world isn’t going to change for the better. Until we stop teaching them that violence is acceptable and that anyone not like us is inherently bad, we’ll never have peace in our cities or in the world. Of course, the cycle won’t end until the adults of the world are willing to re-examine their own beliefs, adjust their own thinking, and stop perpetuating the problem.
Like that’s going to happen.
If you don’t know or recall the song, here’s Mandy Patinkin to enlighten you:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHKzn8aHyXg&rel=0]
Humans aren’t evolved to the point of refraining from indoctrinating their offspring. They will destroy the planet before they get that far.
And I had no idea he could sing like that. My little Inigo will be amazed. 🙂
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Mandy is very talented. Almost as talented as Inigo. But not as cute.