The Immune System Analogy for Growth

There are many things that I can wholesomely say that I am thankful for, but the stand out of these things is, on a significant scale, my parents. Think of any cliche reason you can as to why and your probably right. They've provided me with food, clothing, shelter, and have supported me in every single endeavor I've ever encountered.

The highlight of all these things though is the very way that they raised me. Perhaps it was on accident or the believed it was the right way, in either case, things worked out pretty good. The thing is, they provided me and my brothers with stability at a young age, they provided a foundation on which to build a house of beliefs and ideas and enforced this foundation. Sure we messed up sometimes (alot) on doing the right thing, but they were always there to let us know about it and correct us. They also allowed us to grow on our own, always ready to answer our questions.

I have begun to liken the mind of a young child like the immune system that protects that young child from illness. The immune system does not come fully established, it grows in relation to the environment the child grows in. As something infects the body, the body learns to battle this infection and comes to grow by keeping the information for later use. As the child grows, so does the immune system and homeostasis is kept level. A parents job is to allow the growth of this immune system without letting it get out of control because too many things introduced into the system at once will not allow the system to keep up and it may fail. If you hinder the growth of the system by keeping the child away from any possible situation where they may recieve a pathogen, then you set it up for disaster, as no immunities will be built up.

This can be analagous to the ideas and beliefs of a young child. The child must grow mentally gradually so as to understand each idea wholly and set up a strong foundation. Introduce to many ideas at once and suddenly each one becomes unknowable as a whole, it sends the child into confusion. If a strong foundation is set, as the child grows and encounters new ideas, he/she does so with a clear lense and a strong foundation and vantage point and can then decide to question the foundation on which they are built. If a strong foundation is set but never allowed to continue to grow, it will easily fall when bombarded by the many ideas that the world is capable of.

It is not bad for a parent to subscribe their children to a certain belief system. What is bad is when this belief system is not allowed room to grow in. Many times have I seen people whom leave home and suddenly abandon everything they have ever learned because of the great bombardment of ideas. They fall for any idea because their foundation never grew, never became strong enough to take on other beliefs. The foundation is what sets up strong reasoning skills in the face of opposition.

And perhaps some day the child will leave the foundation of their home to go out and search for their own land to build on. Even so, the knowledge and reasoning they have acquired will make sure they build a strong one, one which they can pass down to their offspring. I can only hope to set a strong foundation and raise my children in the same way my parents raised me.

~MES

Comments

Anonymous said…
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Anonymous said…
Dangit.
Anonymous said…
Well said.

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