There are certain things that cause irreparable damage in
children, which keep them from the getting the starts in life they need to
become healthy, productive citizens and to enjoy all the fruits life has to
offer. These are the things that steal
the joy and pleasure of youth which spur the learning of too much, too fast…
that take the beauty of innocence away never to be returned.
Poverty is overwhelmingly common our world. Children can’t think or play or learn when
they are hungry. When they have to focus
on survival, the world becomes a hard, cold place where just living through the
day is an accomplishment, and it is one that is too often only rewarded by
another day of hunger. Poverty induces crime; young people will steal, mug, and
harm others to get what they need to survive… taking actions that might never
otherwise take, just in order to get by.
Poverty often seems to partner with two other striking
evils: abuse and neglect. Adults who are
stressed because of impoverishment abuse children and one another; often they
have grown up in an environment of abuse and the cycle seems never ending.
Neglect likely comes from as a result of
self-preservation. However hard and
unkind it seems to us from other vantage points, many neglect those who need
them in order to provide for themselves.
Again, the cycle is vicious with neglected children growing up only to
neglect their own offspring in a similar fashion. The hard truth is many have never known any
better and few possess the tools – emotionally and intellectually – to remove
themselves from the situation or to better it.
Yes, poverty, abuse, and neglect steal innocence away far
too soon. Yes, it’s a dire situation,
and yes, it will never completely end.
It is our duty as blessed outsiders looking in to lend a
hand whenever someone will take it, to teach whenever one will allow himself to
learn, and make a difference when we can, even if it is one life at a
time. Ignoring doesn’t make the problem
go away. It multiplies it.
