Have you ever been afraid of something you didn’t know much about? Fearful that it was out to harm you? Maybe your brain told you it was dangerous? (based on the limited information it had.) And then what did you do when you confronted that ‘thing’? Did you try to avoid it? Run away from it? Or..maybe even destroy it?

We’ve had a similar experience with wasps. Wasps are attracted to my daughter like bees are to honey. She’s been stung by them many times and prefers staying indoors to playing in the backyard in the summer. Just the sound of something buzzing a half mile away would send her racing indoors. Her younger brother followed suit (though wasps have never been much attracted to him). He would let out a blood-curdling scream as soon as he spotted something black flying about. Both kids generally grew wary of all flying bugs. So we dutifully had a pest controller come and spray for wasps every few weeks. And even though we had a big yard and a lovely deck, we spent more time in the comfort of the holy indoors.

Until last year, that is.

Last Spring, we started to study about plants as part of homeschooling. All our learning pumped us so much that we started a garden. Then, we learned about pollinators and realized that our arch nemesis, the wasps, were essential to our garden and larger ecosystem. We read many, many books. The more we read, the more our attitudes changed. We started to spend a lot of time in the garden; gardening was the only ‘schooling’ we did for several weeks! We planted many flowers and grew many vegetables and fruits. And when the pollinators came around, including the wasps, we smiled and awwed.

My kids started to lie down in the grass and breathe easy, even when there was an intense buzz of activity. (The wasps now had too much food to bother us.)

Wasps now filled them with AWE.

That’s when it dawned on me - when you are in AWE of something, you want to care for it, preserve it, not hurt it. AWE is the prerequisite to have peace, love, and respect for all living beings. In contrast, ‘..what you do not know, you will fear. What one fears, one destroys.’ (Chief Dan George)

My daughter once told me that it’s easy for her to integrate and play with kids in India because they are in awe of her being from America. But at school here, she tried to hide her Indianness and assimilate as much as she could lest she be teased or bullied.

That was a light bulb moment for me.

I realized that children in ‘developing’ countries have grown up on a diet of Western books and media, which has led us to perceive our own cultures and nations as backward and see the West as some Elysium. No wonder we are in such a race to get to the West!

But what if this narrative could be changed? What if kids in developed countries learned about the rich cultural heritage and traditions of kids from other countries, especially the developing ones? Would that fill them with awe and make them more welcoming towards these immigrant children?

If children read about families worldwide and saw that they were all the same at the core, would that make them empathic leaders in the future? Would they then think twice before making their wealth off of families in any of the poorer nations?

Would kids who grow up reading and listening to stories about the billions and trillions of extraordinary species with which we share our one earth not refuse a straw or a plastic bag at the grocery store?

Would learning about the astounding ways in which trees behave, communicate, and contribute to our well-being encourage these children to plant forests or grow their own food?

How could they not care if they knew, if they realized that we humans represent just one leaf on a tree with trillions?

I think incredible change can happen if they learn, see and experience all the beauty and diversity that exists around us.

Imagine a world where we all felt awe for people who looked different from us, not apprehension or fear. Wouldn’t they then always choose love and peace over war? Wouldn’t they be the most conscientious citizens of our dear Mother Earth? And shouldn’t the goal of education be to raise such children - children who can imagine a better, kinder world?

That’s our dream here at the School of Awe.