When we went around Jamaica Pond with the school children, parents, teachers and a friend “naturalist” one of the young boys saw a rather large ant and was about to squash it.
“No”, the teacher yelled out. The boy didn’t understand what the bother was. It’s just an ant. We all rallied to explain and present our apology. “It’s living!” “It’s a sin to kill living things unnecessarily; it’s not pleasing to God, Who created them.” He backed off. I’m sure we’ll have to explain again and again but unless our children have a respect and love for living things how will they love their neighbor. There are opportunities to teach religion even in a walk around the pond!
