I commit to greater actions to protect our children.
Increasingly, over time, our children have become most vulnerable and living daily at risk. They are viewed by some as commodities, a target market, or otherwise the object of and abuse. Their powerlessness feeds the imaginations and actions of some really sick adults. And they are oftentimes the meal tickets for some poor families.
I know that I do not have to be a biological parent to directly or indirectly protect every child I can. Neither do I need to jump on any ‘anti-abortionist’ protests to affirm the inherent dignity of the life of a child.
Recently in Jamaica, there was a huge furor about the recommendation that abortions be legalized in Jamaica. It was interesting to hear so many Christian professional organizations, including Lawyers Christian Fellowship and Christian Doctors Association join forces with the church in Jamaica opposing this move.
And I couldn’t help thinking…
It would be so much more far reaching if these professionals as well as churches threw their weight behind a wholistic approach toward abortion and child protection. We argue too much on the subject of abortion in isolation of other life- threatening issues affecting the security of our children. For I deem it ironic that while so many scream no to abortion, there is no similar loud insistence on the full protection of children after they are born.
So we save the life now, and exploit, abuse and kill them later. Now isn’t that something?
For is it not exploitation, abuse and death that is meted out to the child who is denied access to adequate health care, education, clean water, shelter?
What do you call it when we fail to enforce strict child protection laws to safeguard our children from: pornography, the seduction of the sex industry and sexual abuse; ‘glamourized’ violence from Hollywood and access to weapons they never made, and displaced or killed in wars adults started?
Is it child protection we are after when there is no great societal outcry against child trafficking?
And what kind of protection are we offering when we munch our delicious chocolate bars, or sip cups of cocoa imported from the cocoa fields of West Africa, and produced by the approximately 284,000 African children enslaved to work in cocoa fields.
And how protective of our children do we really feel when we preen in and show off our brand-name goods made from the sweat of child labour?
I believe that if we are honest, we might admit that to really protect children will be too inconveniencing and totally not profitable.
We do well to remember that Jesus defended these little ones. When adults would deny them their place in the crowd to speak to him, listen to him, to touch him and be touched by him; he rebuked the adults saying,
Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. [Mark 10:14b NRSV]
So today I recommit to protecting children by paying keener attention to the news on global experiences of children, by making adjustments to lifestyle choices that calls for personal sacrifice so that a child might live freely and better.
Why don’t you join me. Here is what you can do.
Adjust your lifestyle choices – begin with research and educating yourself of global child protection issues.
Download this document from UNICEF on Child Protection .
Buy more products that bear the Fair Trade Label. Try Global Exchange Fair Trade Products.
Donate to our Child Sponsorship Program and help our congregation sponsor disadvantaged and needy children in Colon city and in our Costa Abajo missions. For more information write me at marvia(at)marviaspanamajournal(dot)com
Peace,
Marvia
Hmm things to really think about. Remember too, the countless child soldiers in Africa who are turned into killers by “adults with a cause”!
I am all for the researching and educating in global child issues. Only then, can we truly combat this shameful dilemma.
Duane,
There is something particularly chilling about the manipulation and indoctrination of children into warfare, especially for adult causes they are too young to understand, and they are too innocent to know they will not benefit from the ‘spoils of the war’.
Do you notice that in places like Jamaica it is these children who are becoming gang members. I have heard police testify that these children/teenagers are more cold-blooded than older gunmen.
Isn’t that frightening?
Marvia
Frightening indeed! It says a lot about society in general. But maybe if more of us really made more effort to make a difference… a positive difference maybe there will be change. Protecting our children goes beyond lent . Great post! Relevant and timely as always.