What of Our Children?

by Paddy Doherty, President of the Development Trust Association, Derry, Northern Ireland

Everyone has looked at a new born baby and has been filled with wonder. Each time I see a newly born child I am filled with hope and a sense of awe. Because what I am witnessing is the greatest act of creation in the history of the universe.

No other event, neither the birth of a star nor the collision of planets is as significant as that child. The throwing up of mountain ranges by the clash of moving continents is insignificant when measured against the significance of one child.

Montains, planets, stars and great oceans are moved by forces outside themselves. Each child born into the world has the gift of life which places the power within itself.

No matter how high the mountains, with all their grandeur, get their heads into the heavens, they are unable to ask one simple question. The Niagara Falls with all their tremendous power will never know the fragrance of a rose, and a volcanic eruption capable of blacking out the sun will never experience an act of love.

As children we view the wonder of the world with wide-eyed amazement. As we grow older we become so busy that the wonder goes out of our lives. There is an inclination to find a safe place, a fear of taking risks, the need for material things and a need for certainty in our lives. Wonder gives way to a search for security and the tragedy is that the harder we seek security in material things, the less chance we have of getting it. Real security is at the centre of one’s self.

The children of today will be in charge of this fragile planet called “earth“ in twenty or thirty years time. How are we preparing them for this enormous challenge?

We in the so-called developed world have raised expectations of our children to such an extent that they will ride rough shod over any attempt to slow down the race for material advancement and greater riches. This unbridled pursuit of wealth with little regard for the consequences may put at risk the very environment which sustains life on this planet.

A major shift in education is now required to change the mindset of greed to one of need, and not just individual needs but the needs of the collective. This is not new! It is embodied in every religion known to mankind.

What about the so-called undeveloped world? A million children between the ages of five and ten years are imprisoned for petty crimes. They are locked up with murderers, rapists and gangsters of every kind in the most appalling conditions and maybe irreparably damaged by the time they are released. We need international laws to forbid the imprisonment of children.

There are forty million children living on the streets of Latin America and the churches fraternise with governments who are deaf to the cries of hurt and anger from the slums of their cities. Most of these children will die before the age of sixteen.

Aids in Africa is leaving young families in the charge of elderly grandparents who neither have the resources nor the energy to care for them. Many do not have the luxury of grandparents and a child, usually a daughter, is left with the intolerable burden of looking after the remaining children. We have the know-how and the resources to deal with this pandemic. The question is, have we the will?

Boy soldiers from ten years old are being trained to kill with automatic weapons manufactured by some of the richest nations in the world.

It is almost thirty years since Henry Kissinger, the American Secretary of State, said proudly “We now have the resources to ensure that no child anywhere in the world need go to bed hungry.“

On the African continent one child dies every second – every second – every second.

The vision of peace in the world can never be fulfilled until the children of the world are no longer despised, starved, abused and murdered, but loved and cared for.