Sitting on a porch talking with friends, this was said: “I used to be a stickler for the rules when I was teaching but now no teacher would dare.” Dare what? Dare set rules and standards in public schools and enforce them without fear of bodily harm. Bodily harm to teachers? What has our society produced?

What we have produced is a young man without a heart. A young man without empathy. A young man who could say to those he was about to kill, sad music playing simultaneously, “It’s time to die. Good night.” It is not just this young man. Our society is producing a CringeCore of similar children.

In 1966, in Aberfan Wales, 500,000 tons of coal waste came crashing down on a school killing 116 children. Carelessness – not a depraved heart – was the cause. If someone was to inspect the stability of the coal tips, no one did so. In 2022, in Uvalde, Texas an outside school door was neglectfully left open – keys to interior rooms locked by the killer could not be found – officers were ordered not to intervene even as screaming parents begged for them to do something and children about to die called on their cell phones for help.

And so, the question must be asked, “How do we restore the human heart in American children?”

In Aberfan, the answer was returning to the Lord. In a short, freezing service on the side of a mountain, 5,000 people sang Jesu Lover of My Soul by Charles Wesley (1707-1788):

“Thou of life the fountain art,
Freely let me take of thee;
Spring Thou up within my heart;
Rise to all eternity.”

Would that American parents were singing the great hymns with their children in church. Would that their children were in Sunday school or Synagogue every week. Would that the humility, the gratefulness, the respect, the awe, the discipline, and the honor of both parent and child be in every home in America. Sadly, it is not.

There is no great Jewish or Christian leader to guide the grief, explain the cause, inspire the correction, or lead us to the solace of faith. In the press conferences held regarding Uvalde, not one priest, rabbi, or minister was present and called upon to speak. Rather than spiritual guides – failed politicians, frightened public safety officials, and narcissistic ideologues tried to make rational what is insane.

Perhaps part of the answer is going back to what many see as part of the “cause” of the problem – public education itself. What could public education offer that could help restore the human heart in our children?

MUSIC

Music cuts through human flesh as deeply as the surgeon’s knife. It bathes the heart in a salve of comfort. It causes the body to sit up – to notice – to respond to the chill up the spine and the hair on the neck. To hear the great instrumental works of music, to hear the voice of Marian Anderson, to learn to play a musical instrument, or to sing in a choir, tempers the human heart. A child would surely ask, “From whence does this come?”

LITERATURE

Not books, but literature. Not publications of a current brainwash, but literature for all time. Poetry. Short stories. Memoirs. Literature that inspires a swelling human heart – age-appropriate literature – to be returned to in times of adult trial, and passed on to new generations. A classic for all young children:

“Wherever I am, there’s always Pooh,
There’s always Pooh and Me.
Whatever I do, he wants to do,
‘Where are you going today?’ says Pooh:
‘Well, that’s very odd ‘cos I was too.
Let’s go together,’ says Pooh, says he.
‘Let’s go together,’ says Pooh.”
A. A. Milne, 1927.

THE ARTS

The classics of painting and sculpture. Iconography. Quilts. Furniture. Gardens. Interior design. Museums. Libraries. Galleries. These are the creations of the caring, not just the gifted. A child would surely ask, “From whence does this come?”

UNWRITTEN LAW

American law includes Unwritten Law, or the law of comity and courtesy. It is every bit as important as statutes, ordinances, and administrative rules. It goes hand in hand with the Liberty we enjoy as citizens of the United States. Unwritten Law is the lubrication in our society. Its practice softens the human heart. Teachers should show such courtesy to students and students back to teachers. Once the rules of “Thank you”, “Please”, “Excuse Me”, “You’re Welcome”, and “Good Morning” are practiced in each public school, the restoration of the human heart in children has begun.

A SMILE AND A HUG

From all public school teachers to all children in their care.

“Plenteous grace with Thee is found,
Grace to cover all my sin;

Let the healing streams abound;
Make and keep me pure within.
Thou of life the fountain art,
Freely let me take of Thee;
Spring Thou up within my heart;
Rise to all eternity.”

Sung by the 5,000 at Aberfan, Wales, to restore their human hearts at the loss of their children.