The Republic

Wait, Think, Then Choose

Inside you there are two little voices.

One voice is loud. It wants things right now.
Grab the candy! Go first! Mine, mine, mine!

The other voice is quiet. It likes to think.
Wait a second. Is that a good idea?

Both voices live in you.
That’s okay. Everybody has them.
The loud voice isn’t bad. Wanting things isn’t bad.

But here is the secret.
You don’t have to let the loud voice be the boss.

When the loud voice yells, you can stop.
You can take one slow breath.
You can let the quiet voice talk too.

Say it with me:
Wait. Think. Then choose.

Sometimes you will still pick the candy.
That’s fine!
But now you picked it. The thinking you picked it, not just the grabby you.

When your two voices work together,
you feel calm. You feel like yourself.
That good, steady feeling is the best part.

So next time the loud voice yells NOW,
take a breath.
Let both voices talk.

Wait. Think. Then choose.

You are the one who listens.
You are the one who chooses.

Wait. Think. Then choose.

A note for the grown-up

For the grown-up reading aloud: This is the seed of Plato’s Republic, the idea that a person is made of parts, a calm thinking part and a hungry grabbing part, and that we’re at our best when the thinking part leads instead of getting shoved aside. Plato counts a third part too, the proud, angry part he calls spirit, which should back the thinking part up; we kept to two voices so a small child can hold it. Note what we left out on purpose: the want isn’t the villain (the goal is a wise boss, not a silent one), and your child won’t always choose well; the point is the pause, not a promise of self-control. What makes the Republic famous and fiercely argued-about is what Plato does when he scales this up from one person to a whole society, a much bigger and more contested claim for a much later day.

Turn Around and Look

It is bedtime. The lamp is on.

On the wall there is a shadow.
It is big. It has sharp spikes.
It looks like a monster!

Is it a monster?
Turn around and look.

Turn around and look.

Oh! It’s your little toy dinosaur.
It is sitting by the lamp.
The lamp makes its shadow big.

The shadow is not the dinosaur.
The shadow is just a shape on the wall.

Turning around can be hard.
The lamp is bright. Your eyes blink.
That’s okay. Eyes need a little time.

First you see the shadow.
Then you see the toy.
Then you see the light that made it all.

Say it with me:
Turn around and look.

Most things you see are real.
Your bed is real. Your hand is real.
But some things are only shadows.
When something looks strange, you can find out.

Turn around and look.

Maybe your friend sees the shadow too.
Your friend is scared.
Don’t laugh. Hold their hand.
Turn around together, slowly.

Turn around and look.

A note for the grown-up

For the grown-up reading aloud: This comes from the most famous picture in Plato’s Republic, the cave. Prisoners who have only ever seen shadows on a wall take them for the real world, and when one is turned around toward the fire and then led out into the sun, the light hurts before he can see. Plato uses the cave to stand for his theory of Forms, perfect unseen patterns behind everything, which few philosophers hold today; we kept only the part that stands on its own: a shadow isn’t the thing, and seeing better means turning toward what makes it, slowly. We also softened his ending. In the book, the prisoners laugh at the one who comes back, and would kill anyone who tried to lead them out. We made it kindness instead: go back gently, together.

Who Is It For?

It is time to line up.
Who will be the line leader?

One kid jumps up and yells.
Me! Me! I want to be first!

Another kid stands up too.
She knows the way to the playground.
She looks back to check on everyone.

A good doctor thinks about you,
not about herself.
A good leader thinks about the whole line.

Ask it with me:
Who is it for?

Is it for me, me, me?
Or is it for all of us?

The line leader walks a little slow,
so the little kids can keep up.
She holds the door.
She waits at the corner.

It’s okay to want to lead.
Leading can feel great!
Just ask the question first.

Who is it for?

When a leader leads just for themselves,
the line gets messy.
Somebody gets left behind.

When a leader leads for everybody,
everybody gets there together.

Next time you get to lead,
turn and look back.
Is everybody with you?

Who is it for?

A note for the grown-up

For the grown-up reading aloud: Two moves from Plato’s Republic sit under this one. Early on, Socrates argues that every real skill serves the thing it works on, so a doctor as a doctor serves the patient, and a ruler as a ruler serves the ruled. Later he says a city is best governed when its rulers are the least eager to rule. We left out the big claim these lead to, that only trained philosophers should rule a city, and the strict, controlled society Plato builds around them, which readers from Karl Popper on have called a blueprint for tyranny. And we kept wanting to lead as a good thing, since the point is who the leading serves, not whether a child may want it.