From the Fourth Book of Johnny Michael New Zealand, First son of Australasia
Every night of every week of every year Michael would share his bed with children. He would share his bed with children regardless of race, creed or economic background. He would open his bed to children of all ages. His love knew no bounds.
The people of the day were concerned.
Adults do not sleep with children, they said. The people’s minds were filled with craven images, filled with the sins and filth of the world. They could not imagine how an adult might sleep with a child without all that sin and filth creeping in and soiling the thought. They would send reporters and detectives to Neverland to investigate Michael.
When they came to him with accusations he would say to them,
Why can’t you share your bed?
The most loving thing to do is to share your bed with someone. It is where you are most vulnerable. It is the greatest act of trust. It’s what the whole world should do.
People don’t even eat with their fathers any more, or their mothers. The family bond has been broken. It’s a cry for attention when kids are going to school with guns.
They want love, they want to be touched, they want to be held.
And why can’t an adult love a child that is not their own?
Why can’t an adult be free to express that love with a physical gesture?
Children respond to physical affection, to an expression of love beyond words. It is what they need most. The language and words that we teach them are for the adult world. A simple hug to let them feel secure is so much more important than words.
People think that we grow out of childhood, that we leave it behind. That is simply not true. Each and every one of us wears our childhood everyday. It is always with us. You can see this in people. You can see this in their need to be accepted, to feel safe and secure. You can see the people who were not hugged enough as a child. It is very sad and painful to watch these people struggle with this emptiness in a past that they cannot change.
When I share my bed with children I am also sharing it with their adult selves in the future. I am passing on a message of love to their adult selves. A message they will pass on to all the children and adults that they touch in their own lives. I share my bed with children so that I might touch all Humanity with this message.
Michael found himself defending these beliefs many times in the courts of law. In time the people began to see the truth in these words.
Excerpt from The Books of Michael compiled/written and illustrated by Marc Ngui.