Simplicity & Trust - Super 7

THERE IS BEAUTY IN SIMPLICITY

“Childhood means simplicity. Look at the world with the child’s eye. It is very beautiful.” 
– Kailash Satyarthi

To be able to view the pure and unadulterated world around us, we need to train our minds to be simple in our thoughts and beliefs. Teachers often marvel at the simple solutions, that the children come up with, to seemingly difficult problems. Life's experiences condition adults to unnecessarily complicate things. It is only after a considerable amount of introspection, does one notice that one is caught up in a complex mesh of life which forces one to turn a blind eye to the beauties of the world. 

It takes quite a good amount of time to come out of this mesh and look at life afresh. However, it’s important that we spend that time to introspect. Similarly, it’s also important for us not to impose our complex ideas on our youngsters, thereby leaving their perception of this colourful world untainted.

A fine day saw the teacher talking to her students about the importance of technology. The discussion brought about obvious references to the latest gadgets and innovations. Sudden unrest was noticed at one corner of the class and after much probing; she found out that a child named Rahul was teasing Soham, his classmate, for the financial condition of his family. While Rahul was the son of a leading businessman, Soham’s father was a professor. Soham chose not to argue with Rahul over the hand-me-down, old phone that he used while going for his after-school activities. He kept calm and politely answered Rahul, “Simple living high thinking is the mantra of our life.” This immediately shut Rahul up, and never again was he caught teasing his friends.

Later when the teacher had a word with Soham, the latter clarified, “My father told me that being simple is not a crime. It is more important to be knowledgeable than to be rich.” 

The teacher was surprised at the calm composure exhibited by such a young boy. When she later shared the tale, it was an eye-opener for all of us as well. We often run after unessential materialistic pleasures not realizing that the real treasures lie right in front of us.

Trust is yet another virtue which helps us to appreciate the simple but profound beauty of relationships. If two people share a mutual appreciation for each other, trust is a natural by-product and is catalytic in helping the relationship evolve. Trust does not lead us to any quantitative gain; rather trust is gain in itself. Developing trust and fostering emotional intelligence in the classroom is essential to building strong teacher-student relationships. Not only is it important for students to trust their teacher, but it is also important that they trust each other.

Hoping to build up this virtue a teacher planned an activity titled “Trust Fall” during the CCA class. Each child had to jump from a chair blindfolded where others of his group were supposed to catch him before he hit the ground. The ground was adequately padded up to ensure that no child gets hurt, should any child fall down. However, it took a lot of courage for kids to actually take a step off the ledge.

While most were anxious and could not do it at the first attempt, there was one noteworthy child who smartly got up and jumped without much ado. When questioned later he answered, unhesitatingly, “Oh I knew my friends will be there to support me like always.” His infectious smile immediately echoed radiantly in the faces of all others. That’s the beauty of trust!

Super 7 @ Billabong High International School, Thane 

-Sayantani Mukherjee, Dimple Awasthi, Ritu Chitnis, Manjusha Saji, Jyoti Ramdhave, Vijaylaxmi Ramesh & Sumati Muthukumar