#92: Wake a Sleeping Baby (PART 1)

【Teaching to Discriminate?】
Don’t wake a sleeping baby.
 
It’s a common saying in Japan, similar in meaning to Let sleeping dogs lie.
 
For those of us who’ve lived together with small babies under one roof, this Japanese wisdom may resonate well.
 
Sleep for a few hours; then wake and play and cry; then sleep again. Indeed, babies are very busy.
 
Certainly, this makes it a challenge to maintain the daily rhythm for those of us around, including parents and siblings. From adults to children; in work, school, and social engagements. Time management has become so important in our modern society, and it gets all the more challenging when our life rhythm falls out of sync.
 
Yet, our babies have no time for that kind of thinking, because their job is to do their best in living and growing. Those of us around will surely yield, so we tend to go sleep deprived.
 
As such, this Japanese wisdom accurately describes our earnest plea for some rest by not waking a peacefully sleeping baby.
 
However, from time to time, we hear this common saying used in a rather different way.
 
It’s sometimes used to deter people from stirring unnecessary trouble by rocking the boat. This could be of matters small and large; under a variety of settings.
 
For example, when talking about a very large problem in our world such as Discrimination, one of the worst plagues of the past and even today. From time to time, people say Don’t wake a sleeping baby and mean Better not talk about it; safe to steer clear. Almost as if to willfully ignore.
 
And this common saying is exploited even when we try to spend some quality time with children through reading books and watching films together that show why discrimination is wrong; as if to deter us from engaging in valuable conversations with our youngsters on this sensitive but important topic. 
 
When asked why deter such conversations, the answer comes back, “because it’s like teaching our pure children about the human ugliness; like teaching to discriminate.”
 
The same is true when talking about a very large problem in War. Every so often, people say Don’t wake a sleeping baby and mean Better not talk about it; safe to steer clear. Again, almost as if to willfully ignore.
 
In the next post, let’s dig in a little deeper on this point.

Read Next: Wake a Sleeping Baby (2)【Success-By-Chance is Weak】

​Complete Series: Wake a Sleeping Baby (1)～(5)
[1]   [2]   [3]   [4]   [5]  
 
Read Theme: Discrimination