Innocence

One thing I like the most about kids is their simplistic view of life, the universe, and everything. There is a nine year old girl... young lady... who helps me in the afternoons in the nursury. She helps do simple tasks like sanitizing the toys and changing crib sheets.She says she likes to help because she wants to get a job at a day nursury when she is old enough, but I think the real reason is that she wants to talk to someone who will at least try to understand her. Trouble seems to find her, and to her it seems like the other teachers at the center are resentful of her and her sisters. This is a conversation that I had with her last week when we were talking about our favorite show in the universe, Law and Order.

Girl: How long do you have to go to school to be a lawyer?
Me: Well, if you work hard enough, maybe six years, but more likely eight. And there's a huge test you have to pass too, and for some people that takes longer.
Girl: Eight years?? Is a lawyer a normal job?
Me: Normal?? what do you mean, normal??
Girl:... well... I mean most people aren't normal... I want to have a daughter. I don't want to work too much. Do lawyers have to work a long time or can they come home sometimes to see their daughter?
Me: Well, I don't know. I guess it depends on what kind of a lawyer you are and how much work you take on.
Girl: what kind of lawyer?? what kinds are there???
Me: well, you know like on the show there are prosecuting attorneys- the guys who try to prove that the person did it- and there are defense lawyers- the guys who try to prove the the person didn't do it... (I rattled off some other jobs lawyers specialize themselves in...)
Girl: Oh, yeah... well I just want to be the kind of lawyer who tells the truth... what kind of lawyer is that called?

In my mind, I was thinking "It's called a fictional lawyer" but I had to hold back my smirk to avoid hurting her feelings. Her esteem is already pretty low. But how do you explain to a nine year old the inner workings of our so-called "Justice" system without shattering her faith in the one virtue she holds dear: truth. I'm very careful about the political ideals that I convey to the children I work with. I try to stay as much in the neutral area as possible. I don't want to program their minds, but I want them to discover the ideas for themself.. not to mention, politics is a bit out of my scope when it comes to the center.. I mean, c'mon these are kids. I tried to explain to her that nobody knows the truth except for the person being accused, and it's the lawyers jobs to figure out how possible each side of the story is, but sometimes the lawyers think that proving their side and winning is the most important thing, even if it isn't really the truth. After this long and detailed explanation that was followed by a series of other questions, I wished that I could go back to being nine, where things were as simple as merely telling the truth or not telling the truth.....