great photo - "the age of innocence"

[orleans]

"I had been on assignment at a Detroit Montessori school for two days, and shot hundreds of photos. Some were very good, but I knew I hadn't gotten THE shot. That afternoon, as we all sat on the floor in a circle listening to a story, I bowed my head. When I raised my head, this little girl leaned over to lay her head on the little boy's lap. He very gently lifted his arm to receive her. I call this photo 'The Age of Innocence."
- Marco Mancinelli

(posted by a friend on fb)

[Enter stage left]

1. Nobody is born a racist...It has to be taught.

Beautiful picture of pure innocence.

[Butterflylady]

3. That picture goes to show

You're not born with racism, you're taught how to hate.

[pazzyanne]

12. + 1 nt

[iluvtennis]

20. Ditto. nt

[Hortensis]

32. Not quite. People are born wired to varying negative responses to

what is different from "normal," some a lot more and some a lot less than others. Fear, caution. Seemingly part of our survival equipment. Then nurture kicks in.

[stopdiggin]

36. the perception of 'other'

seems to be rooted pretty deeply. In some circumstances that works to advantage (to throw a positive spin at the discussion). The exotic and unusual has often been a source a fascination, and imparted value -- and has lent greatly toward the 'expansion' of our tiny little tribes (and social comfort zone). I'm thinking of trade of course -- which has been around about as long as we have. But your quite right in that much of the basis of our perception, and thus thought, revolves around that which is expected (the pattern) versus that which is not (and thus stands out for attention). Sometimes evoking curiosity -- sometimes anxiety and consternation.

[Hortensis]

41. And in an era of enormous changes rushing us to who knows where, "other"

is everywhere, but mostly unseen and unknown.

Even here, where most presumably are more open to change and less frightened by it than those on the right, there's a tendency for some to assume negative trends or consequences will just continue to get worse and worse, instead of causing countering reactions.

200,000 (or 6 million) years of evolution did not prepare us for this. Enormous ongoing changes used to mean enormous calamities, not increased wellbeing and wonderful new opportunities.

[stopdiggin]

42. wonderful perspective!!

too bad I can't 'kick' that response!

[tecelote]

39. +1!

[magicarpet]

2. The taint of adulthood racial propaganda has not reached them so far....

[Deuxcents]

4. The children could teach us a lot

If we only would listen. Beautiful kids n photo

[dixiegrrrrl]

16. Have a feeling it is Pulitzer material

Because it is a great shot and because of the current political environment, it has even more meaning.

[patphil]

28. That was my first thought also.

[Evolve Dammit]

5. Doesn't matter what gender, race or color you are. Children know that. WTF is it stripped from them?

We are such a fucked up society. Truly.

[malaise]

6. Beautiful

Adults are scum

[Tanuki]

8. I would love to see a "where are they now?" follow-up of the kids in the picture.

I bet they turned out to be nice grown-ups!

[orleans]

26. i don't think that photo is that old for a "where are they now" follow up

i googled the photographer and found this photo and his name on a lot of sites

this was the first that came up on google
https://nevada-today.com/age-of-innocence-by-marco-mancinelli/
from april 2019

[Tanuki]

27. Ah, thanks for that! Those plaid-cuffed jeans the little boy is wearing

have a "retro" look that made me think it was from yesteryear! Well, in that case, I'll change my remark and say that I bet they'll grow up to be nice adults! They are clearly off to a good start.

[panader0]

9. Which is why I've tried to never grow up.

[malaise]

10. Same here

I try hard to stay young in my thinking

[BigmanPigman]

7. I taught 1st grade for about 15 years and the little kids

are genuinely kind and they WANT to help. They want to help the teacher and fellow students. I had a multi cultural classroom and when we would get a new student midyear the class would bend over backwards to help. They did it naturally. If the new student didn't understand English or know how to get to the bathroom or the office the rest of the kids would argue over who got the chance to help out. That never happened when I taught 6th graders.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

22. I wonder what happens in those years between 1st and 6th grade.

I was talking earlier today to a good friend of mine who was in the Peace Corps 1969-1972. When he came back he wound up speaking to kids at the elementary school he'd attended when he was a kid. He told me the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders were most interested and asked the best questions. The older kids just weren't all that interested.

I know some stuff is developmental. We all change over time. But still, I'd think that things like kindness and curiosity could somehow be maintained.

[Aristus]

11. God, that is so beautiful, I just don't have words...

...

[llmart]

13. Just precious.

My little granddaughter has been in a day care, preschool, now she's in kindergarten there and seeing her interact these past five years with kids of all colors, races, ethnicity it just is so darned eye opening, since they just don't have a racist bone in their bodies at that age. The racism is learned at home.

[BobTheSubgenius]

14. I've mentioned this anecdote before, but I think it's instructive, or at least confirming.

Even though it was me that said the "punchline."

My father told this story many times, so I guess he found it instructive, or poignant , or whatever.

When I brought home my Grade 1 class photo, my father noticed a guy I still know today - HY. He is Chinese-Canadian, and, as far as my father knew, the first non-white child I had ever met. (Vancouver was VERY Caucasian, in those days) Wanting to know what I thought of it, he - not a racist in the slightest, just curious - said "I see you have a Chinese boy in your class."

My response, apparently, because I BARELY remember this, was puzzlement, followed by "No one in my class speaks Chinese."

[MLAA]

15. Beautiful.

[DemUnleashed]

17. Simply...

No words!

[MustLoveBeagles]

18. That's so sweet and beautiful

[Hortensis]

33. Yes. I like that babies don't have accents. They all sound the same.

[rickyhall]

19. I was raised by racists. They tried to teach me to hate blacks & hispanics, but mostly, yankees.

But, it may sound weird, tv taught me otherwise, especially Star Trek.

[Collimator]

29. Star Trek

Opened up a lot of minds to new possibilities.

Speaking of being raised by racists, my folks used to warn me about shopping at certain malls, because "those" people went there.

The most dangerous place that I have ever been, and the only place where I have suffered from violence, was my parents' house. I've only ever been threatened and hit by people the exact same color as me. Ain't that great, MAGAts?

[George McGovern]

21. Magnificent orleans! Simple. Honest. The way it ought to be. Thank You!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

23. That is one of the most beautiful photographs ever.

[notinkansas]

24. As my children would say -

I love that so hard!

[3catwoman3]

25. This picture is worth...

...100,000 words.

[dalton99a]

30. Kick

[NH Ethylene]

31. Kids become pretty brutal as they get a little older.

Anyone who is a little different gets ostracized and bullied. When I was in second grade it was the girl with the frizzy hair. It came to be believed that she had 'cooties' and nobody would sit with her.

You see it in every grade school. It's practically a caste system or a henyard pecking order. It's why bullying is so hard to eradicate.

So I don't think the inclination to separate the 'others' among us is a learned behavior; I think it was selected for in evolution because it alerted people to those who were not in their clan, so potentially a danger, and also eliminated the weak to make for a stronger group, just like with animals.

Nowadays, as we get older, we learn to be tolerant and to appreciate diversity. The kids who were outcasts in high school find friends as adults.

So I don't think we learn to be racist; I think we learn to be inclusive. The problem is that many people don't teach their children tolerance and in fact are happy to point out who the 'others' are.

[maddiemom]

34. We live in a university town with a large diversity of race and nationality for its size.

Our daughter started at a Montessori school at age three.. She came home chattering about all her new friends. We hadn't the foggiest notion of any of their races or nationalities until the first parents' night. Granted some of these kids had first names that were unusual, but she took that as for granted as she did a Jason or a Heather. Her biggest problem when starting traditional elementary school was getting up and "helping" other kids who were having trouble with their work.

[calimary]

35. Awwwwwwwwwwwwww...

Sweet! GREAT shot!

“...and the children shall lead.”

[BobTheSubgenius]

37. That picture stirs up a lot of feelings, doesn't it?

Pictures like this make you wonder what happens to people over the years. No idea how these two are going to grow up, obviously, but some adults might have had moments like these, and had those feelings stomped out of them.

[demigoddess]

38. Beautiful!!!

Kids know truth.

[bobnicewander]

40. That beauty

is everywhere every moment of every day because there are children everywhere every moment of every day.

Thank you for posting it.

[robleb]

43. No One

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion.
People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love,
for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

[burrowowl]

44. Beautiful!