Search - Jamie Barnett :: Just Look at You

So often we view childhood as a kind of larval stage of humanhood. We see children as potential adults whose "real" lives will begin sometime in the future. As a teacher and as a parent I often get caught up in that way of thinking. After all, our job is to help children learn and grow. Each day though there are moments when I see a child for who he/she is, right here and right now, and I rediscover that children are whole and complete just the way they are. Some years ago, at our elementary school, we had a child who had a respiratory disease that would prevent him from reaching adulthood. He spent his days like all the others learning to read and write and playing with friends only he did it with 30 feet of tubing attached to an oxygen tank. He even played kickball. As expected, he didn't make it out of elementary school. He died in the third grade. The experience forced us to reevaluate our role as teachers and our relationship to the students. Although we are preparing children for the future, first we are living life together, today, right here, right now. Just look at you. "381 days" is the length of time the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott lasted. It is a story about courage and perseverance. It is about doing what is right in a world that is wrong. It is both history and metaphor. The law of the land was unjust and Rosa Parks literally wouldn't stand for it. A single act of courageous resistance gave strength to thousands of ordinary people to remain faithful to a collective act of non-violent resistance for over a year. In this song I am just trying to tell the story. When we describe to children the rules of segregation, about drinking fountains, restrooms, playgrounds, and buses, their jaws drop in disbelief. We look back and wonder how people could be so blind to the injustices of their day but, in truth, people will look back at the years in which we live and wonder how we could be so blind to the injustices of our day. This is a story that asks us to open up our eyes.