Last Saturday, my son turned seven years old and I remembered that, when I was a little girl, my Grandmother used to tell me, “When you turn seven, my dear, you reach the age of reason.” I never cared to learn about the subject until now.
Throughout history, seven years of age marks a milestone in childhood. Around the world, this is the average age when formal education starts, social expectations change, and privileges and responsibility increase.
In the Medieval times, children became court apprentices in guilds such as shoe-making, welding, locksmiths, and others. Catholic Canon Law frames seven years old as the age to receive communion, and English Common Law considers an individual responsible for his actions in the face of the law.
Also, the famed father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, classified seven years old as part of what he called Latency Period, when children acquire social values and self esteem. During my search about this matter I found an article online at Scholastic.com about the Age of Reason and its relationship with truth in childhood.
According to the article, at this age, children begin to differentiate right from wrong beyond wanting to please their parents. In other words, conscience is born.
This is the age in which kids tattle on their peers at school in front of their teachers, or my case, in front of my husband. My son is the bad word police 24/7 ratting me out in front of his dad every chance he gets!
Based on all mentioned above, how is it possible that my little son is capable of choosing to do the right thing better than so many adult politicians and public officials? For example, in my home country Colombia, one of the biggest corruption scandals unfolding this week is the embezzlement of millions of dollars that were destined for the Peace Accord implementation.
Under the nose of the Colombian President–and Peace Nobel Prize recipient in 2016–Juan Manuel Santos, his management agencies cheated the country and lined their pockets with contracts acquired through shameless influence-trafficking tactics.
Although I remained skeptical throughout the lengthy peace process that took place in Havana, Cuba, for more than four years, I tried hard to stay optimistic about the future after the accord was signed in 2016.
The economic and social projects, sponsored by the U.S. and the E.U., promised alternatives for thousands of ex-combat outlaws who would exchange bullets for seeds to build a new Colombia.
Nonetheless, Corruption, the Mother of all Sins, just broke almost 50 million hearts because it seems that the Colombian peace process implementation was admitted to the ICU.
Thank you for reading and sharing.
Xiomara Spadafora
Good crazy woman 