Question
Hello, Master. First, I would like to express my gratitude for having met you and your sangha at Shobogenji. The summer camp experience undoubtedly changed my life, allowing me to see another reality and showing me that things can be very simple… Nevertheless, I have a problem that sometimes complicates my life, hahaha…
I work in education with children and teenagers in a working-class neighborhood of Santiago, Chile. There are many problems with drugs and delinquency in this neighborhood, and the children have to live with this reality every day. During the week, my colleagues and I prepare fun activities and workshops through which we try to encourage teamwork, love for others, the ability to listen (and listen to oneself), and other values we consider important. Nevertheless, we are often saddened to see that our work is useless with these children, who prefer to see us as an authority to be defied. They don’t listen to us and respect neither the work nor the materials, which sometimes belong to their own neighborhood.
I would like your opinion on this, or some advice. Thank you very much.
Gassho.
Anonymous
Answer from Master Kosen
The moment you make a child or teenager aware of their worth in any area, make them aware that they are good, that they have abilities, help them recognize their uniqueness, and also give them a responsibility, they immediately become positive, constructive, and on your side. That is what my master did with me. I was nothing but an uneducated thug, but above all, someone whose particular qualities went unrecognized and who was therefore defined only by the harm and stupid things he did.
Kosen