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Me Tarzan You Jane

by Janice Barrett Graham
illustrated by Lili Ribeira and Andrew S. Graham

Copyright 2011 by Janice Barrett Graham
Click here to order Me Tazran, You Jane for $7, shipping included
April 4, 2011

 

Imagine Tarzan growing up in the jungle, the only human being. Then one day he meets Jane. She is the first human girl Tarzan has ever seen, and he sees she is different from him. This is because Tarzan is a boy and Jane is a girl.

There is no other kind of normal human being. Just those two, male and female. This is how God made us. You can call them boys and girls, men and women, ladies and gentlemen, guys and gals, even dudes and dudettes! Tarzan figured it out pretty quick when he said, “Me Tarzan. You Jane.”

One of the first things all new moms and dads want to know is if they are having a boy or a girl. Whether you are male or female is shown in every cell of your body. Scientists can even tell if ancient mummies thousands of years old are male or female!

Being a boy or a girl means more and more as we grow up. The differences between male and female are necessary to human life. Respect for this timeless truth helps people live in an orderly way.

What if you lived in a jungle and wanted to see what you looked like? Maybe you’d have a mirror hanging on a tree. What would you see about yourself? Does your reflection have anything to do with being a boy or a girl? Sure it does, and it should.

For example, if you’re a boy you’re wearing boy clothes. If you’re a girl you’re wearing girl clothes. Your hair is probably somewhat boyish or girlish, too. Without even thinking much about it, you are being the male or female God made you.

Being a boy or a girl is more than how we look. It’s how we think and act too.

There are lots of things both boys and girls can do, like read books, ride bikes, and sing songs. But as you grow up you should start learning how to be the boy or girl you are.

You can learn a lot from your parents about the important ways to be boyish or girlish. Parents teach a lot of things without saying a word. This is one reason children have both a father and a mother, male and female.

All boys should treat each other as fellow boys. All girls should treat each other as one of the girls. No teasing or name-calling!

Everyone should be able to grow up feeling confident about belonging to their own group, male or female.

Tarzan’s jungle is full of wild animals. These animals don’t know anything about good manners. Sometimes human beings have bad manners, too.

That’s why children have to be taught by parents who care about them. They have to learn the right ways to think and behave. It’s a little like Tarzan, who was raised in a jungle, learning how to eat using a spoon, and then a fork and knife.

This is true of all kinds of good manners, including those having to do with being a boy or a girl. Children have to learn the right ways to think about male and female. They have to learn the right ways to act as a male or a female.

If we didn’t know right from wrong about these important things we would be like Tarzan trying to learn to eat with an upside-down fork!

As they grow, boys should start becoming interested in girls in a new way. Girls should start becoming interested in boys in a new way. Right now that may sound yucky, but just you wait! Because boys and girls are different, they find each other very interesting.

Boys and girls have chances to get acquainted with one another at school, church, dances, parties, and lots of other activities. Later, they go on dates. In these social ways, boys and girls learn to talk to each other, treat each other with respect, and find out about the kind of person they want to marry.

But there are dangers in Tarzan’s jungle. One creature that can be dangerous is the elephant just because it is so big and strong.

Elephants are useful and interesting creatures. God made elephants. He also made us, and gave us strong, useful, and interesting feelings.

The romantic feelings we are talking about develop as we grow up and urge us to get married and have children. Because these feelings sometimes feel as strong as an elephant, and can be dangerous, we need to know God’s boundaries or rules.

The main rule is that strong romantic feelings are only to be used between a husband and a wife. It’s like how a baby elephant can be trained to be gentle around people. When it grows up, even though it is strong enough to break the rules, it doesn’t forget. When people respect God’s age-old rules for romantic feelings, everyone is safer and happier.

In our world today there are many dangers having to do with those strong romantic feelings. Bad behavior and wrong ideas are all around us.

The feelings developing in young people that prepare them to be a husband or wife, father or mother, can be hurt and get confused. They can get going in a wrong direction, like an elephant gone wild.

You might say we have an elephant stampede going on in our world when it comes to manners about romance and love. Some people are acting very badly indeed, which causes trouble for everybody.

Because of that elephant stampede of bad manners we now need God’s rules more than ever. And because we are all human beings, and human beings get hurt, confused, and make mistakes, we also need God more than ever. If we didn’t have God we’d be like wild animals in a jungle. Everything good comes from God.

The rules for these feelings are as important today as they ever were. We should hang on tight to them, even if we feel like Tarzan out on a limb above a stampede of wild elephants. Yikes!

Bad ideas come from people who are against the rules. They spread clever but false and hurtful things. You might hear some of these wrong ideas. They might even sound good at first, but God will let you know in your heart they are not good at all.

Those of us who want to hold on to God’s rules may be treated badly by others. But we must hang on nevertheless. We didn’t make these rules up. They were given to us by God. They can keep every boy and girl, every family, and every society safer and happier.

There is one main purpose for romantic feelings. This purpose is mating. Mating is what can make a baby. Only a man and a woman can mate.

Two men cannot mate with each other, nor can two women. Human mating involves both a male and a female.

We should wait for the right person and the right time to mate. This union is called marriage. Marriage is a serious promise between a man and a woman to always love each. God gave us marriage.

In marriage it is understood that there will be mating. Many husbands and wives become fathers and mothers. This makes a family where babies can be loved and cared for.

Together, a grown-up Tarzan and Jane can make the best kind of home for children as they grow, safe from all kinds of dangers.

One thing you can start learning that will help you is to think before you act. It’s like how Tarzan plans things out before he swings on his vines. If you’re going to swing high above the ground from tree to tree, you are going to need a plan or you could end up falling flat on your face. Ouch!

Tarzan chooses good, trusty vines to go a certain direction and arrive at a certain place. You can choose good, trusty thoughts that will take you in the right direction so you arrive at the right place.

God gave you the gift of free will so you can choose right thoughts, right feelings, and right actions. As you grow up, you become accountable for everything you think, feel, and do. You can start practicing now to think good thoughts, feel good feelings, and do good things. If you wish it, God will guide you.

Living here on earth might sometimes feels like you have an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. We hear voices that disagree.

The people who are making bad choices and spreading bad ideas are following the wrong voices. You can choose to follow the right voices. God can help you know in your heart what is right and what is wrong.

But nobody is perfect. Sometimes we forget God. We sin in our thoughts and hearts, or with our actions. These mistakes remind us to turn back to God. This is how we learn to be better people.

There are all kinds of sins and mistakes. Misusing strong romantic feelings is just one kind. People can always turn back to God and goodness. There is hope for everyone.

All of us have feelings. They can take many directions, as if there is a signpost pointing different ways. Some of our decisions about feelings don’t matter much, such as what we want for breakfast or what game we want to play. And some are very important. We can turn to God to know what to do with our feelings.

For people have romantic feelings, there is only one right path, the one God has given us. Like Tarzan and Jane, when you grow up you can take this path with the person you marry.

For a faithful and loving husband and wife, there are no such dangers as there are elsewhere. On this one right path you will be free to keep learning and growing as God wants you to.

Knowing all these true things should make us so glad we could let out a Tarzan yell.

Ahhh-ahahahahahah-ahahahahah!


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