"Tane"
By Chaplain William Stewart

As April is Month of the Military Child, I have spent a fair amount of time reflecting on many aspects about our children. First and foremost, I believe it is most important to realize the incredible sacrifices that our children make as being part of the military environment.
They should be praised for those sacrifices, and there are many, especially since they do not always have a great deal of input in their circumstances. They are truly our future and we need to let them know that we are extremely proud of them. We should also realize as adults that we have an incredible responsibility to ensure they have every opportunity to grow in a safe, healthy and nurturing environment.

Growing up on a small farm, I learned about responsibility early on. That if we were going to eat, we had to take care of the animals and we had to take care of the gardens. Although I am far from being fluent in Japanese, I continue to trudge along in my attempt to learn as many words as I can in Nihongo (Japanese language). One word that sticks in my mind is “tane,” which is pronounced ta-neh. Directly translated, it simply means, a seed.

You may have noticed that Japanese people are excellent farmers, but no matter how anyone does it, each person starts out the very same way, with tane. We have to take each seed and prepare an environment in which it is safe, well fed and watered, and nurtured if we expect it to grow into its full potential. Our children are literally our seeds, our tane, and it is no different for them.

But, whose responsibility is it? This question leads me to another one of the greatest things I like about the culture of our host nation. In English, we usually refer to people we don’t know as he, she, him, her, or more politely, that gentleman or lady. In Japanese, people are referred to more by their position in the society or community, and everybody holds a position. It is very common to hear people referred to as oba-san or oji-san (aunt or uncle), obaa-san or ojii-san (grandmother or grandfather), onee-san or onii-san (older sister or older brother), even when their personal identity is unknown.

The reason I find this so interesting and important, is that it demonstrates an attitude of community and solidarity when it comes to respect for one another and the responsibility we all have to one another. That we are not just individuals, but part of something much larger than ourselves; we are indeed part of a community that must take care of each other, including all of our children, the seeds of our future!

While we all know that parents are ultimately responsible for their children, I believe it is so important for us to realize that children are not the sole responsibility of the parents; that each of us in the community have a role to play. This is no more evident than in how children learn. Certainly the parents play a huge role, but so do teachers at school, ministers and parishioners at church, leaders in the military, and others. But let us not forget the daily interactions they have with each and every one of us in the community who play the role as aunts, uncles, grandmothers, grandfathers and big brothers and sisters.

Some of the greatest education our children will ever receive is their observation of how you and I simply live out our lives and demonstrate how we are to respect one another, care for one another and love one another.
If we want our children to grow up to be everything they can be, it will be up to each and every one of us to play our part for a healthy community.

I leave you with one of my favorite verses in the Bible found in Proverbs 22:6 which says, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”
May God bless each and every one of you as we celebrate our children not only this month, but every month and day throughout the year.