Letters Home: Section 1, Letter dated September 28

September 28
Katrina,



Is it any wonder, Katrina, that a child is the greatest gift of hope that one can receive since children are born of goodness and innocence, hope and promise for the future; since a child is a soul that knows nothing of the world but trust and love. For months, a child rests in the womb, nourished by the mother, sleeping safely within her walls of protection. Then, at birth, the child knows the protective arms of the mother, trusting completely in this older, wiser being to care for any need that may arise.



For months, a mother carries within her womb a child, feeling movement, feeling kicks, and sensing love, feeling changes within her as the child grows. Then, at birth, a mother looks upon a child as a welcomed stranger, an angel sent as a gift to the mother, a miracle the mother cannot comprehend and science cannot truly explain.



A child is born with no knowledge or concern for money or wealth, for hate or war, for color or gender or privilege. Instead, a child is born craving love and hope, learning and exploration, and laughter, looking about in each new moment to see how the world has changed and searching for something at which to smile. Children are born good, Sister, for no mother has looked upon her newborn child in terror, frightened of an evil she had delivered.



And, as a child grows, they learn that which is taught to them by mothers and by strangers and by all. Goodness and badness and all things in between are written upon a slate reminding the child throughout his or her life of rights and wrongs and gray areas. And, as a child continues to grow, more people write upon the slate, providing guidance of one type or another, information to be organized forever in an invisible notebook of life experiences. And, soon, the child begins writing on the slate as well to be certain that no experience is forgotten and others emphasized. And, by the time the child reaches adulthood, society can only hope that all those who have written on the slate have done so in such a way that the column of hope, of love, of kindness, and of goodness total greater than that of the column of despair and sorrow.



Children are like the fields, Katrina. They must be tended with care or ruin will result. But where tenderness and care are provided, beautiful flowers will bloom and fields will flourish.



Sisters forever,
Christina





This work is fictional. Any resemblance to actual situations or persons, living or dead, is coincidental and unintentional.



Messages From The Heart, a collection of poems and verses authored by Debra Phillips, is now available in print at www.wordclay.com and in download format at www.lulu.com.