Tell the children the truth.

"Tell the children the truth." — so commanded Bob Marley, the prophet of reggae, whose voice was not merely a song but a summons. These words, though simple, blaze like fire. They strike at the heart of generations who have hidden behind silence, half-truths, and illusions. Marley, who sang of freedom, struggle, and unity, knew that the greatest betrayal is to deceive the young, for the child carries tomorrow in his hands. To tell the children the truth is not only to speak honestly, but to plant within them the seeds of dignity, strength, and clarity, so they may grow into a future unburdened by the lies of the past.

This command rose out of the soil of Jamaica, scarred by slavery, colonialism, and oppression. Marley himself bore the memory of a people whose history had been twisted, silenced, or erased. The children of his land often grew without knowledge of their true heritage, taught only the stories of their conquerors. Thus, "tell the children the truth" was a cry against forgetting. It was a demand that the oppressed reclaim their narrative and give it to the next generation unbroken. For a child who knows his roots cannot be easily uprooted.

History offers many echoes of this wisdom. Consider the long struggle of African Americans in the United States. For centuries, children were taught falsehoods: that slavery was a minor footnote, that their ancestors had no culture, that dignity belonged only to others. Yet truth emerged through voices like Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, W. E. B. Du Bois, and later Martin Luther King Jr., who insisted that the young be taught not only of chains, but of resistance, resilience, and greatness. It was not enough to give them bread; they needed truth, for truth is the nourishment of the soul.

Marley’s call is both tender and revolutionary. It is tender, because it springs from love: children deserve honesty, for their innocence should not be poisoned with deceit. Yet it is revolutionary, because to tell the truth to children often means defying systems built on lies. It means teaching them that the world is not always just, that freedom was won with blood, that corruption wears crowns, that peace requires struggle. In this way, truth is both shield and sword for the young. It protects them from ignorance and equips them to fight for justice.

But there is also a warning here: when we withhold truth from children, we create adults who wander blind, unable to understand the world they inherit. A generation deceived will carry wounds deeper than hunger or poverty. For without truth, they cannot know who they are, nor where they are going. Marley’s wisdom is therefore urgent: tell them the truth now, before lies root themselves so deeply they become difficult to tear out.

What, then, is the lesson for us? It is this: be honest with the young, even when the truth is heavy. Speak to them of history as it was, not as it is convenient to remember. Teach them the struggles of their ancestors, the victories and the failures, the beauty and the pain. Do not wrap the world in false sweetness, for such illusions will one day shatter. Instead, give them the truth as one gives a torch: not to burden them, but to light their way.

Practical action lies before us. Read to children the stories of their people. Speak openly about injustice and how it can be resisted. Let them hear songs of freedom, not only lullabies of comfort. Encourage their questions, and answer with honesty rather than evasion. Above all, live truthfully before them, for children learn not only from words but from example. In doing so, we honor Marley’s command, and we give to the young the greatest inheritance: the courage to see the world as it is, and the strength to build it as it should be.

Thus, Marley's words endure: "Tell the children the truth." It is not merely advice, but a duty, a sacred charge. For truth, once planted in the hearts of the young, will grow into forests of freedom, and no empire of lies can stand against it. Let us then be faithful stewards of this duty, passing truth like fire from generation to generation, until the world is illuminated by it.