The soul is healed by being with children. Fyodor Dostoevsky
Even if you have your head buried in the sand, you must have been hearing all of the outcry about a popular American pop icon who has had “allegations” of pedophilia and inappropriate behavior with underage girls.
The first time I heard of the accusations of this particular musician (notice I refrain from mentioning his name); I was teaching children in the South Bronx and heard all about it on radio.
I would never forget the visceral emotion it evoked within me; I went home and broke all of his CDs that I owned and till date will never listen to any of his songs when they come on air.
Why the strong response you may say?
The job of every adult in society is to protect the vulnerable- this extends to children who are easily malleable and desire to be accepted and loved by the adults in their lives. I know this as an educator; I have never looked down at any of my “challenging” children- I have learnt to mentally strip aside their wall of disdain, disrespect and attitude to see the needy child within who just desires acceptance.
I have always been intrigued by gadgets and how they work. Imagine the delight I had when my mom took me to the dentist and I saw all of the snazzy equipment. It was like being in a candy store. I asked questions and questions about the equipment. I ran my hands over the gleaming stuff and my tongue peeked out as I heard the buzzing sound the gadgets made.
I went there while my mom was busy with her research; I went to learn more, I went to feed my curiosity about the equipment. I also went there because I had a cavity in one of my molars from having too much candy from family and friends who felt it was ok to indulge a “cute” child.
I asked the dentist questions about my cavity and what he was going to use to fill it. The wonder of it filled me with awe.
“You are such a beautiful and intelligent girl.” He intoned as he used the drill on my teeth.
“Beautiful girls need to be taken care of.”
“You are a special girl.”
All this while, I couldn’t respond or move because I had been told that if I moved while the drill was in my mouth, I could get seriously hurt.
“I take good care of beautiful girls like you, anything you want, I would get for you.”
That was Day 1.
The next time I was over, he moved to stage 2 of their playbook (yes, people like him have a playbook they use to rope in their victims)
He told me about how I needed to treated with reverence due to my uniqueness.
Then the next time, he sold the benefits of our special friendship. (Do you see the progression?)
Have you ever watched a snake dance before it strikes?
I will finish this story in my podcast this evening.
My podcast is on Itunes, sticher and all the other podcast platforms- https://anchor.fm/STEMProf/
Adetola Salau; Global Educator / International Speaker / Author/ Social Entrepreneur/ Innovative Thinker/Future Readiness Advocate/ STEM Certified Trainer
She is an Advocate of STEM Education and is Passionate about Education reform. She is an innovative thinker and strives for our society & continent as a whole to reclaim it’s greatness.
E-mail-:Carismalife4U@gmail.com
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Website-: www.carisma4u.com