Precious Children
Locked Up
Children, minors under age 18, are the most precious
resource available to our own culture and to all the world. They represent all the hope and all the
future possibilities available to everyone, everywhere. This hopeful preciousness is agnostic to
their national origin, their parents’ status in social strata, their health or
physical status, their religious background, or their race or ethnicity. Dependent on the adults “in the room,” their
lives are precious, and they must hold special status in every aspect of
society, and everywhere in the world.
In the United States we have a long history of protecting children (at
least trying to), and our laws attempt to provide access to health and
education and assure quality of life to the fullest extent possible. When we consider violence or other inhumane
acts against children we are outraged.
Recall the media
coverage, the marches and protests that occurred, in response to recent school
shootings in Texas and Florida. Think of
Newtown and the humanitarian and noble response of Americans to that disaster,
where many precious six-year-old lives were lost. Our collective conscience must never allow us
to disregard the principled value we hold for children. It is in our DNA as Americans and shared by all civilized people of the world.
Juxtapose this view against your own experience as a child, parent,
or grandparent. All of us connect in
some way to that innate childhood connection with adults critical to our
safety, protection, and love. For me, I
think of my two sons (now grown up) and my three grandsons, ages 6, 4, and
(almost) 2. My connection with all of
them is profound. I can’t disconnect or
dishonor that relationship in any way.
They are all precious. When I
see the sweetness and vulnerability of my grandsons I am awed. When I see their joyousness, their robust
life- changing personalities, and their need for connection with their parents
I am humbled. Some say that when they see the face of a young child, they see
the face of God. Regardless of one’s
religious bent, isn’t it fair to say that in such faces one sees the reality of
goodness?
And now, I can’t think of those faces, connections, and
smiles without comparing them with the hundreds of children who have been
ripped out of their parents’ arms by my government. I can’t justify this for any political,
legal, or moral reason. When I hear
others try to legitimize this on religious grounds, I am sickened at the
hypocrisy and hatefulness of their argument.
I can only see my little grandsons, being taken from their parents,
moved to a fenced in “shelter”, and being held against their will. I can only feel the amazing heartbreak,
outrage, and shock this would cause their parents. I am deeply aware of the wounds, the pain,
and the anger that would persist over generations and lifetimes. I identify with these feelings viscerally.
I hope that many speak out and act against this. While I know that our political leaders on
both sides are failing us here, I hope that churches, communities, and other
organizations find ways to fight these horrific actions, against children and
families, by our government. This must
stop.
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