234. The World’s Most Unending Promise - Maggie Doyne
Keith Carter, “Uncertain, Texas” (1986) via PDNB
Children have been my greatest teachers. They are anchored in the present, in wonder
I’ve spent the last seventeen years completely surrounded by children. I’m part of a team that runs a residential care home in midwestern Nepal, as well as a community-based school for children living in poverty, a women’s empowerment center, a health clinic, family development programs, and safe homes. There is rarely a day that goes by that I don’t interact with a few hundred kids—fifty of whom I live with, two of whom are biologically my own.
Like most humans, I struggle at times with mental health. To stay hopeful, to stay sane, to hold onto joy despite the sadness, suffering, violence in this world is a constant battle. My greatest wish is for a world where every child is safe and loved, and my biggest trigger is seeing children suffer. But over the years, during some of the darkest days and most difficult moments, I started to notice something: When I look into the eyes of a child, it’s almost impossible for me to feel anything other than hope. While my brain churns in fear and doom scrolls on my phone, I look down and see a three-year-old holding a perfectly smooth stone in their hand, in awe and wonder. They ask me to keep it safe in my pocket. As my mind wanders and worries, a six-year-old stops me, points to the sky, and says, “Maggie mom! Did you SEE THE MOON?!”
There is nothing more magical to a child than their first wiggly tooth, or finding the perfect hill to roll down (over and over), or tasting their first marshmallow. They always spot the ladybug, the fluttering orange butterflies, the dandelion that’s one little puff from bursting. Their questions are my favorite part. After hearing the birds sing, they ask, “But why do they always sing in the morning?” Why this? Why that? But how?
Children have been my greatest teachers. They are anchored in the present, in wonder. There are so many times I wish I could just bottle up the joy, the innocence, the purity, the sanctity of children. That’s what it is—children feel sacred to me. They’re our world’s most unending promise.
- Maggie Doyne
