Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Fighting the Fight for Children

Doesn't it seem that in the past 5 years that horrid stories of abuse against children have surfaced like a volcano erupting? All the news stories about children physically, sexually, and emotionally abused. Now we have to contend with protecting children from becoming victims of online sexual predators. Now we have to protect teenage children from not only being that, but from becoming infected with HIV. Violence and death by handgun affects so many children. Recently, in my community, an 8-year-old boy brought a fully loaded handgun to his daycare. Children in many countries suffer malnutrition, horrific and barbaric acts against them by adults. Many non-custodial adults still avoid and evade paying their dutiful and owed monetary support for the children they helped create. In the United States, when 60 percent of all homeless are women and children--too many children do not enjoy a safe, affordable home. In the Darfur region of Sudan, in Appalachia in the United States, in too many places--children are in harm's way. Too many stories of "latchkey" children being alone and tragedies occur all too often with death resulting. They need us to be advocates, protectors, to be friends, and caregivers. Many children need good stable homes--free from substance abuse, violence, and sexual abuse. They need love, care, concern, esteem-building, gentleness. They need places to play; they need to be treated as children--not as little adults. They need us to stand for them--to be the responsible adult voice who will intervene on their behalf for their safety, health, growth, and protection. That child we save today may be tomorrow's U.S. president; that girl we protect may be tomorrow's CEO; that boy who is turned inward may be tomorrow's astronaut. We need to help children believe that while this world is unstable, and in spots unsafe, it is still a world where dreams do come true. We can help them realize and fulfill those dreams. A famous golfer spoke recently how he places his millions into childrens' development centers and said that this brought more joy to him than a single golf stroke (Tiger Woods on CBS "60 Minutes") Bill Gates, his wife Melinda, and the singer Bono were declared Time Magazine's 2005 Persons of the Year for their humanitarian efforts. We all have a gift to share--we can pass on goodness, light, hope, love, patience, creativity, gentleness, encouragement, peace, faith, knowledge, morality, sound ethics--to the greatest investment of all--children. This is the best investment than all the money ever invested on Wall Street. We must strengthen laws to protect children..it is our moral, civic, ethical and social duty as adults. They will thank you later as adults.

No comments: