A new light enters the world

Got great news today. My good friend and his lovely wife, Jon and Sachiko, have just given birth to their first child, Isamu! It's so exciting. Although it was two weeks early, the labour only lasted 5 hours and there were no complications. The child looks very similar to his father, apart from his nose which is from mum, and he's so cute! Ahh, kinda makes me broody, it really does. To add to their good fortune the baby hardly cries at all, and is very well behaved, which must be such a relief to mum.
Earlier today, I was having a discussion at work about whether children should be told about the work UNICEF does. Now, we're talking about 2 - 4 year olds, who may not really understand the concept of a child not having a home, or not having parents because they have died. However, the older ones can express their emotions, and there's some mothers who don't want to expose their children to "nasty" bits of information.
Let me explain. I'm managing an International school at the moment in Tokyo, and we'll be holding our annual school bazaar this month. The nominated charity is UNICEF, which the PTA chose, and part of the money raised from the bazaar will be going to this worthy organization.
We thought is would be great for the children to know a bit about UNICEF, so they're going to spend a week studying what they do, where they do it and what their aims are. However, the question is, will some of the children be traumatized by it? Personally, I don't believe they will. Sure, some will feel sorrow and pain for what they'll learn (the older ones at least), but I don't think it's going to scar them for life.
Surely it's better to feel things, to experience emotions as broadly as possible, as it will help develop more rounded individuals? If parents try and be over protective, then there is a real danger of doing more harm than good, especially when it comes to child development.
It sometimes really saddens me when parents do this, as they're not really looking at an issue from their child's perspective, but from their own perspective. They refuse to give their children the freedom that is their right, and so end up clipping their wings.
OK, sorry about the rant, I'll stop now.
Another friend had a rather unfortunate run-in with the law today. she was on her way to her train station to catch the train to work, when a policeman ran up to her, waving and telling her to stop. He demanded she produce her Alien Registration Card and passport, the former which she had but the latter she didn't. He was talking to her in Japanese, and this isn't her strong point. She then told him she was an English teacher, and he said "OK", bowed and waved her along. My friend got on her train but was deeply embarrased, and felt ashamed.
I think this is a classic example of the subtle racialism that pervades Nihon. It doesn't rear it's ugly head too often, but a surprising numner of Japanese are still under the foolish belief that they belong to a truly unique race, that is compeltely defferent and superior to any other. I know, it's ridiculous and rather silly, but people actually believe it.
I tried to reassure my friend that she's done nothing wrong. It's only because she's a foreigner that the policaman picked on her, as they probably have some sort of quota they have to fill - 10 foreigners must be stopped and made to feel bad about themselves everyday sort of thing. Aghhrrrr, it does annoy me, people being small minded and stupid.