Children

I’m the kind of guy that loves children, all children. I think they should be celebrated for all the good they bring us! I feel joy in their presence and in their laughter. I think that a smile or a hug from a child is a gift. Unfortunately, the way the world is these days, I have to hold back my natural impulses. Because of a very small number of sick, predatory adults children can’t just be themselves anymore. The adults that love them can’t either.

Most of us have learned to trust so little that we surround ourselves not only with barriers and defense mechanisms but we even have elaborate rituals that we construct and play with each other to ‘test’ each other. The problem with that is when the other person doesn’t know the game or the rules, the games too, can have the opposite effect and actually drive others away. Funny thing, this human condition…

One area where most of us are programmed to drop all our barriers is with little children. We have no defenses with them because we know we don’t need any. One look, one smile, one hug from a child can pass through even the toughest barriers we construct and go straight to our hearts. God made it that way. Perhaps it’s a mechanism to prompt us to protect and care for them. Or perhaps He wanted to remind us of the innocence and the openness we’ve lost as adults.

Little children haven’t become jaded by the world yet. Their hearts are completely open to it. They look to the adults in their lives for everything. They are completely dependent on adults for food and shelter, for the education they need to survive and thrive in the world…and for love and encouragement. They openly trust without hesitation. They still see the world as a place full of wonder. They still experience awe…something many adults have forgotten.

The sad fact of life on earth is that many adults prey on children. In many countries, and in many homes, children are treated like property. There are still places where they are sold into slavery. There are adults that use them and then throw them away like garbage. There are countries where orphaned children wander the streets hungry and alone… Too often children encounter the worst that adults have to offer. They not only learn from the poor examples of the adults in their lives, but they often encounter the most evil predators among us. To harm a child is to harm the best in us. To take advantage of their innocence and trust is a betrayal of everything that is good and decent. To harm a child is to destroy the future. That’s a violation of universal law!

I, for one, feel no mercy for someone who would use or harm a child. I believe children should be taken away from homes where they are abused and placed in homes where they will be loved. The law should deal the most severely with anyone who would harm those the least capable of defending themselves. Anyone known to be a predator should not be allowed to walk freely among us. I believe child molesters should be put to death…period!

The way we treat children is a reflection of what’s really in our hearts. A society that values children loves them and nurtures them. A society that values them spends liberally on educating them. A society that values its children protects them with the law of the land and punishes those who would do them harm. A society that values children makes sure that none are hungry or homeless. That there are hungry and homeless children among us speaks to our shame!! The way we treat children, perhaps more than any other aspect of human culture, will stand as a witness against us before the Most High God.

If we cherish and nurture our children and allow them their innocence as long as possible, there remains hope for the world…hope in the next generation. The possibility remains that their potentials will be fully realized even though most of us know ours haven’t been. We need them as much as they need us because a part of us needs to believe living up to our potential as human beings is possible.

Children are not a commodity to be used and traded…they are a Gift from God for us to love and cherish. They can teach us to open our hearts. They can restore something that life has broken in us and open us to love again. Children reveal our hearts. They're a reflection of our hearts. They're our future and our hope. If even one falls through the cracks…that’s too many.