Can you imagine the beauty of a city at night? The colours that swim in the blue glass windows of skyscrapers? The asphalt roads, twisting their way around the city like an obsidian snake? Then, there are cars and bikes and people, all gathered and moving together, their life and laughter echoing like a heartbeat. If you are lucky enough to view this sight from an elevated position, you may feel, if only for a second, like a god. Because we have created our cities to mirror the night sky, because we have made our own stars and moon, we need no reason to look above to see the beauty that the darkness of nighttime brings. The stars can rest in their beds, knowing that their job of watching over us has been taken over by glowing, yellow city lights.
The human mind is a strange and beautiful star. In its rays of light, it hides the joy of intricate imaginations. The mind is the veil that separates us from all the other inhabitants of this planet. The mind makes us different. It is not strange, then, to wish to nurture the minds of our children. In fact, it is more than important to help them to keep their minds healthy and safe, just like we protect their physical being.
As young people, one of our responsibilities is to develop our mental strength and allow ourselves to gain as much knowledge and experience as possible before we step out into the real world. It is not a coincidence that our youth is completely dedicated to education. As children, we have the ability to learn more efficiently than adults can. This ability is not limited to academics alone, but also extends to daily life and common knowledge.
Perhaps this is why we often see children and young people imitating those they admire, whether they are friends or family members. They learn from the way these people act, then use the knowledge to build themselves. Their ability to absorb information combined with their search for a place to fit in makes them especially vulnerable. How then, do we change this vulnerability into a strength? How can we encourage young people to develop their minds?
Recently, I discovered that stars can die too. They too, can run out of fuel and eventually stop shining—a fact that is bleaker than this is that there is a small possibility that we are continuing to see some stars that are already long gone. This is because the distance between stars and our planet is very large. In fact, it is so large that even light from stars can take years to reach us. This is why sometimes, when we stop seeing the light shining from a star and understand that it has died, a few years would have already passed.
The world is full of distractions. It is full of colours and magnificence. Sometimes, we may get diverted from the things that we truly need to pay attention to. If we are too busy looking at the star-like city on the ground below, how can we dwell on the attractiveness of the actual stars in the sky above? If we are so focused on less important matters about our life and our children, how can we focus on improving the state of their mind?
We can help children to develop their minds simply by teaching them to pay attention to it. We have so many thoughts and emotions that it is impossible to have a healthy mind if we do not spend any time attempting to process it. If we do not watch over our young children and give importance to their mental health, we might miss great moments or critical signs before it is too late, just like the stars.
