Kids deserve to be taken seriously. It's just as important to

Hear the voice of Meena Harris, who speaks with the fierce wisdom of one who knows that the future is not built by nations or armies, but by children. She declares: “Kids deserve to be taken seriously. It’s just as important to talk to them about women’s equality, about fairness. We really have to focus on children early.” Her words, though modern, carry the eternal cadence of truth spoken by sages — for she reminds us that the shaping of the world begins not in the halls of power, but in the hearts of the young. To take children seriously is to honor the architects of tomorrow before they even hold their tools.

In every age, the destiny of a people has been forged in its teachings to its children. The ancients taught that the soul of a nation rests upon what it whispers to its youth — for what the child hears in wonder, the adult will defend in conviction. To teach fairness, to speak of equality, is not a trivial task but a sacred act, the passing of a torch from one generation to the next. Meena Harris, a voice born from the lineage of justice and courage, understands that children are not empty vessels to be filled but living seeds to be nurtured — and that if the seed of equality is not planted early, injustice will grow its roots deep and hard to uproot.

Consider the story of Socrates, who walked the streets of Athens and questioned all who would listen. He said that the unexamined life is not worth living, and that the young must be taught not what to think, but how to think. Yet even he was condemned for corrupting the youth — for daring to awaken them to their own minds. How familiar this struggle remains! The world fears the power of young hearts that question injustice, for they are mirrors that reveal hypocrisy. To speak to a child about fairness, as Harris urges, is to raise a generation that will not bow to oppression disguised as order.

When she says that children must be taken seriously, Harris strikes against an ancient arrogance — the belief that wisdom belongs only to age. But often it is the young who see most clearly, their eyes unclouded by habit or pride. They ask the questions adults have learned to avoid: “Why must men lead more than women?” “Why should some have more while others starve?” These are not naive questions; they are sacred ones. To silence them is to betray the spirit of truth itself. Thus, to take children seriously is to respect the divine simplicity that still sees justice as it is — not complicated, not politicized, but pure.

She also calls us to remember that the battle for women’s equality is not fought only in courts and parliaments, but in the conversations at dinner tables, in classrooms, and in the stories told before sleep. If a girl grows up hearing that her worth is equal, she will walk through the world with unshakable grace. If a boy grows up hearing that respect is the measure of strength, he will become a man who builds, not dominates. Equality taught late is rebellion; equality taught early is culture. That is the essence of Meena Harris’s wisdom: that the greatest revolution begins in the nursery.

History bears witness to this truth. In the time of Emperor Akbar, the great Mughal ruler, he decreed that children of every faith in his court should be taught together — Hindus, Muslims, and Christians alike — so that they might grow to see one another as kin. He knew that division is learned, and therefore must be unlearned through the education of the heart. And indeed, during his reign, there blossomed a rare peace among his people, a brief but shining age where knowledge defeated prejudice. This is what happens when a ruler — or a parent — chooses to focus on children early.

Let the lesson, then, be carried to every generation: speak truth to the young. Teach them not just letters and numbers, but justice and kindness. When they ask questions, answer with honesty, not dismissal. When they see unfairness, guide them to understand, not to ignore. Build within them a reverence for equality so that when they inherit the world, they will mend what was broken. The wise know that to change the world, one must first change the way its children dream.

So let us do as Meena Harris commands: take children seriously. Listen to their voices, plant in them the seeds of fairness, and water them with love and courage. For the child you guide today is the leader, the healer, the reformer of tomorrow. Teach them early, and you will not have to repair them later. Raise them in justice, and they will build a world where equality is no longer a battle, but the natural law of humankind.