School of hard knocks

No parents want their children to be enrolled in the school of hard knocks. As Forrest Gump has said, life is like a box of chocolates: one never knows what one is going to get. Sweetness or the bitterness of an unexpected earthquake? A bloody war or an incurable disease?

Although they may be painful, challenges do have their merits as they usually make children tougher. However, that does not entail that a child's happy and healthy development has to include misfortune and mistreatment. The bright smiles of children should be the pursuit of all mankind, regardless of race, religion or nationality.

Nevertheless, occasional hardships are inevitable. What society could do is provide love and care, which help children deal with the frustration that comes from failure or trauma caused by a natural disaster.

Managing to survive a hurricane in 2004, Chen Jianan, a 13-year-old Chinese-Indonesian student, even continued with his reading while taking shelter in a native Indonesian woman's house. "I lost my pair of glasses when my aunt pulled me out of the water," he said. "She then got me an old pair so that I can keep on learning until my family came back to me."

Now reunited with his parents and siblings, he never shed tears and appears to have come to grips with his terrible memories. "I think I have conquered the fear brought by earthquakes or hurricanes and grown up," he proudly declared. "I will take good care of my brothers and sisters if such disasters strike again."

Growing up in a slum in Kenya, James Mwangi, aged 13, has to collect waste to supplement the family's income. This enables him to buy books and shoulder part of the family's daily expenses.

"It is my responsibility to study hard to ensure that the family gets out of poverty so that mom does not have to work past exhaustion, washing other people's clothes," the Kenyan boy explained. He added that the opportunity to go to school was his favorite gift since it would help him turn his dream into reality.

Kept alive by kidney dialysis, Yoichi Imai, a young local civil servant in Tokyo, has been afflicted with chronic nephritis since he was 8 years old. However, it is the love and care from his family and his environs that has encouraged him to live with his excruciating illness.

"I cannot agree with those who refrain from doing anything under the pretext of their being sick," said Yoichi. "I look upon my illness as one of my peculiarities which would demand more efforts out of myself to live better."

Children -- young, innocent and promising as they are -- can only grow into towering trees with strong roots by weathering occasional storms.

In Germany, the government has established a number of special camps which enable children to be tested in various tasks with varying levels of difficulty. In Japan, even kindergarteners are taught to be spartanic by going barefoot and taking cold baths in winter.

Being strong in spirit does not mean a total absence of tears, but signifies a kind of determination to never give up and keep hope shining within.

The journey of life is long and hard, and children need to be equipped not only with knowledge and material wealth, but also with a strong heart and an iron soul.

Source:Xinhua