The fifth page for March 29, 2009
"People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them. (Mark 10:13-16)

I live in a house of avid readers. There are books in every room, and on most flat surfaces. There is a constant flow of books in and out of our house. We buy, and borrow new things to read all the time. I am grateful for the access we have to stories, and to insights and information.

Most weeks my wife takes our 7 year old son to the library. This usually happens while our daughter is next door, at the public pool for her synchronized swimming lesson. This past week our son came home with a book called “Ten Amazing People: And How They Changed the World”. Written by Maura Shaw, and published by Skylight Paths, it contains stories of people who, by acting out of their convictions, made a difference. I was familiar with the stories of all ten, except for a man named Janusz Korczak.

Janusz Korczak was actually the pen name of a man named Henryk Goldszmit who lived in Poland before the Second World War. He was an acclaimed author, a teacher, and a paediatrician. His passion in life was working with children. He was one of the first to call for a Declaration of Children’s Rights, more than 50 years before the Geneva Convention on the Rights of the Child was passed in 1989. He once wrote,

“Children are not the people of tomorrow, but are people of today. They have a right to be taken seriously, and to be treated with tenderness and respect. They should be allowed to grow into whoever they were meant to be. The unknown person inside each of them is our hope for the future.”

The brief article in the “Ten Amazing People” book inspired me to learn more about Dr. Korczak. His grandfather was a physician, and his father was a prolific author. His father also suffered with mental health issues, and according to some accounts, may have committed suicide while in a mental institution.

It seems that Korczak’s passion for the care and education of children was rooted at least partially in difficulties in his own childhood. One writer said, “Reaching into his childhood and formative years, he discovered that his upbringing and schooling were built on serious flaws, which surfaced in occassional pangs of distress and loneliness. He felt deprived of love and support, and in his mature years wrote a philosophical treatise entitled How to Love a Child.”

In “How to Love a Child”, Korczak offers insight into the connection between self-awareness, and our capacity to understand a child that has continued to inspire and challenge educators to this day:

"You yourself are the child whom you must learn to know, rear, and above all, enlighten."

What we need

This pyramid is a visual representation of Abraham Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs”. I remembered this scheme when I was thinking about the story of Jesus feeding of the crowd of thousands. You may remember the pyramid from first year psychology or sociology courses. Maslow’s interest was in factors that motivate and determine our choices, and which shape our personality.

Maslow theorized that people are only able to “rise” to addressing the needs expressed at the top of the pyramid when the needs on the lower tiers have been met. In Maslow’s thought, the physiological needs are the most basic, and must be met first.

I initially thought I would use the pyramid to illustrate the wisdom of Jesus concerning himself with the feeding of the crowd. I thought I would say that Jesus made sure that the most basic needs of the people were met, in order that they would be freed to pay attention to “higher” needs. But on reflection, I realized that there are problems with this interpretation.

The story indicates that Jesus actually taught and preached first, and only later asked about feeding the crowd. When I thought about that, I wondered if there is a “first world” or “developed world” bias built into Maslow’s hierarchy, that would hint that people are only capable of self-actualization and spiritual “progress” when they are well-fed and have big homes with 2 car garages, and all the attendant “stuff” that we tend to associate with well-being.

My recent experience of visiting a woman who is dying of cancer was a reminder that we do not live “by bread alone”.

I would not suggest that we concern ourselves only with the “higher” things, and tend to people’s souls and not worry about whether they have a place to lay their head at night. I think that Maslow has done well to identify some categories of the things that we need to live well, and which motivate us. I wonder if it might be more useful to depict the items listed in a kind of inter-connected “constellation” rather than in a tiered pyramid. I would also want to name spiritual needs: connection to God; sense of purpose; vocation, transcendence of self; compassion for others.