Yesterday, before getting ready for bed, I told my 5-year old son about the shootings in the mall in Nairobi over the weekend where many people lost their lives. I'm sure many parents would question my parenting style, but I feel it's an important way to learn empathy. I didn't know if he was listening to me when I told him because as usual, he was busy distracting me so he could go to bed a bit later- a procrastinating technique he seems to have mastered. And then right before we went to the bedroom to put on his pjs, he said "did the people die in the supermarket?" This was the focus of our prayer in the bed that night.
We sat in bed a prayed for everyone we knew (I said the name of everyone in our family) and those that didn't know, including the people who died in Nairobi, their families who are sad, all the people in the world who don't have food, houses, clothes and money (some of whom he has seen in Tajikistan) and people around the world who are sick. My son ended the prayer with "and we pray that we don't have any bad dreams." Yes, he's still at the egotistical age where everything revolves around him, but I believe he was listening to the other prayers and thinking about the people who suffer everyday. I will continue to pray with him like this and hope that he grows up to be a compassionate adult who serves others who are not as fortunate as him.
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