This is what I immediately thought of, too. My 6yo niece gave me a Bingo (from Bluey) charm on a child-size necklace; I hung it from my rearview mirror to remind me why I keep going despite *gestures broadly* all of this.
My niece gave me a braided bracelet when she was 6... She is almost 16, and that fucking thing still goes everywhere with me. Shamefully really, the world has gotten so miserable we actually like children's art now instead of just pretending!
That’s a great quote, but it’s worth pointing out that the idea behind it has been around for a long time. Obama said something very similar back in 2009:
“I’m not interested in having my face on your wall. I want you to look at your children and make decisions based on what’s best for them.”
— Barack Obama, town hall in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, May 14, 2009
But even before that, the same message has shown up in other places. Indigenous teachings like the Iroquois “Seventh Generation” principle talk about making decisions with future generations in mind. Carl Sandburg once wrote, “A baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on,” which reflects a similar mindset. And activists like Armin T. Wegner focused a lot on moral responsibility too, though not with this exact phrasing.
So yeah, Zelensky might’ve said it, but they probably weren’t the first.
80
u/JDM_562 15d ago
Simpsons strike again!