People: The Poem

A lighthearted rhyme for young children, illustrated by young children, celebrating the differences of people all over the world. They come in a number for odd shapes and sizes And colors and other new kinds of surprises. Some skinny and long, some are round, some are square Some are close to the ground, others high in the air… One reader comments: “Snuggled in bed we were reading and giggling about the silly pictures and then for some reason out of nowhere I got sorta choked up at the end. Why do you think that is?” Though this is a silly poem with funny drawings, it does touch on a basic truth: mankind’s future and the future of our planet depends on our ability to get along with one another. Tolerance is a seriously important topic. Instilling a spirit of acceptance in our children could ultimately be the saving grace for humanity. Just as most violence in the world can be traced back to attitudes of intolerance, most peace in the word can be traced back to people accepting people who may happen to be quite different from themselves. The reason this poem is categorized in “basic concepts” is because accepting human equality should be among the most basic of concepts in social development. For many it’s not. This is a problem, if not the problem we collectively face. But when you read to a child something to enforce the idea that just because people are different in many ways doesn’t mean that they are not the same in many ways too, what you’re also doing is planting the seeds of peace into the earth. The authors thank you for all you do to promote peace on this blue marble!