"It takes a village to raise a child." Hilary Rodham Clinton's goal was to create a stronger and more united community when she made this quote. If we want our children, the next generation, to build a stronger future, we must give them a positive and fulfilling childhood. They cannot come solely from a child's parents; rather, the entire society must contribute to a child's growth in order to ensure a well-rounded childhood.
The child thus receives an entire spectrum of opinions and is exposed at a young age to a diverse community. The community that partakes in a child's growth ultimately affects the outcome. Society assists in shaping young minds in hopes of creating a better tomorrow. The lessons learned by society in addition to its moral conduct and existing beliefs are thus imprinted upon these children's young minds. One of society's inherited beliefs is the threat unknown objects and beings can pose. We cannot directly relate to those foreign creatures and therefore we fear what they might bring.
However, children need to learn from their own personal experiences in order to formulate their own opinion, which thus creates their individual identity. Society cannot omit this crucial part of their childhood in order to create a future generation that is considered capable and competent enough to become tomorrow's leaders. People are not meant to be uniformly produced. In the 1982 film E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, the children enter into a friendship with this creature from another planet because they do not share with society its fear of aliens or responsibility for society; rather, they wish to experience and explore the unknown for themselves.
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Photos Courtesy of Universal Studios
Created by
Amelia Lyle
Last updated on May 7, 2004