I write often about Costa Rica’s natural wonders, its amazing biodiversity and all the adventure one can have here.  This morning I am writing about another aspect of Costa Rica that I love.  That is, the kids.  Costa Ricans are blessed with good genes and that results in adorable children.  And the society here is really all about the kids.  The laws and societal norms are heavily weighted towards protecting and nurturing the children.  And what a great place to grow up in. There is also a premium placed upon education, which is reflected in Costa Rica’s very high literacy rate.  I have never seen a place where kids are so excited about school.  In a third-world country, which Costa Rica still is, children know how to be happy with less. Because compared to the kids in the U.S., Costa Rican children do have less, far less.  But are they any less happy?  I would say no.  But then again living in one of the planet’s great and last natural playgrounds doesn’t hurt.  It is no wonder why the kids here always seem so happy, at every socio-economic level.  I have been writing a lot lately about the earth and our growing responsibility to care and nurture it.  Places like Costa Rica bring that responsibility even more into focus because it is so intensely full of nature, a biodiversity “hot-spot” as it has been called.  But at the same time the natural beauty that surrounds you here is quite fragile and could be gone in a flash.  What a shame that would be.  Would the Costa Rican children, those that haven’t even arrived on the scene yet, bear the same beautiful smiles and have the same energetic and playful spirit that one witnesses in the urban parks and in the countryside?  You see the responsibility we owe is to them.  And that responsibility is all the more grave because they can’t speak for themselves.  Likewise in the U.S. that responsibility is no less.  These days everyone is focused on the “economic crisis” and how much money can be thrown at solving the problem and getting us back to our “American” lifestyle.  A lifestyle that is measured via the yardstick of consumption.  That is, how well we are doing is reflected in things such as how big a car we drive and how big a house we live in.  But while that debate goes on are we hearing anything about the serious repercussions that that lifestyle is having on our planet and what it means for future generations?  Where will that put the kids?  What kind of world will be left for them?  The “debt” that we are leaving may be far more serious than money.  It may be one that places in peril the future stability of this planet and that is a debt that no amount of new taxes will ever hope to pay for.  The children of Costa Rica and the U.S. are relying on us to make good decisions.  The children of planet earth are relying on us to make good decisions.

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