#conscience be your guide

4.30.15

You requested the movie, “Pinocchio”, after school today. Out of all the movies we own, you choose this one. A movie you’ve only seen once, several years ago.

This movie was made in 1940, 75 years ago, a time when life looked very different than it does now. The main idea in this masterpiece centers around a wooden puppet that comes to life with the help of a magical fairy, whom then tasks a cricket to act as his conscience. The tale gives life to the idea that your conscience truly is a person inside us all, coaching and helping us distinguish between right and wrong. 

But where do we get our moral values, our compass of sorts, that hopefully keeps the arrow in the right direction? And why does it seem that nowadays, there are a lot of broken compasses? As parents, we must be the ones to take on this responsibility. It’s our job to stock your compasses with the right coordinates and to teach you right from wrong. Next to loving you unconditionally, this is the most important task.

A week before I watched you enjoy this tale, a man by the name of Freddie Gray lost his life at the hands of police officers trying to arrest him for breaking the law. By the standards of our legal system, he was doing wrong, but putting yourself into the position of Judge and Executioner is a lofty gamble. 

I can only assume those police officers left their compasses at home that fateful morning. And I guess their Jiminy Cricket was on a lunch break when they decided that severing Freddie’s spine while he was handcuffed in the back of their van unable to defend himself was morally okay to do. It’s a scary thought to ponder – individuals out there roaming the streets with no conscience to guide them, no voice to tell them to stop.

I’m not saying that Freddie’s compass wasn’t acting up when the police stopped him that day, but it certainly wasn’t so faulted that he deserved to die. 

Some have argued that the color of his skin was the reason for his fatal beating. I sure hope not, but I fear it had a lot to do with it. I’ll never understand hating someone based on the color of his or her skin. We are all the same. We all have hopes and dreams. And we all at some point in our lives, wished upon a star with the belief that anything was possible.

Pinocchio’s fairy told him that in order to become a real boy, he must prove he possesses 3 traits: bravery, honesty, and unselfish behavior. I hope you’ll always be brave enough to fight for inequality and for the right things; things that make the world a nicer place to live in. I implore you to always speak the truth and lead by example with the coordinates your Dad and I are giving you. And I’m confident you’ll continue to always put others needs first before your own. These truly are 3 virtues that make up a great man, Beckett.

I’m thankful today that you are still here. That I get to enjoy you watching a tale written 75 years ago, a tale that just might be more important to see now than when it was originally written. 

I can’t pretend to understand how Freddie’s mother must feel today. But I’d like to think that she might be sitting quietly, with her eyes fixed to the night sky looking for that perfect star, a star she could wish upon. A star that could magically turn back the clock to when her little boy sat quietly with his hopes and dreams and his entire life ahead of him; a time when the world didn’t seem so vile. 

My deepest sympathies to you, Ms. Gray, from one mother to another. I wished upon a star tonight for the very same thing.