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the children want peace in the world, but not all are raised free from the venom
of discrimination and prejudice, and capable of looking at people of different
race, color or creed as endowed with equal dignity.
All children like to speak with God, but not all learn that God loves, without distinction, Moslems, Jews, Christians, peoples of all faiths and no particular faith.
All children need to play, but not all parents can save them from child labor, from begging in the streets, from child prostitution and the ways of crime.
All children love to spend time with friends, but some grow up before their time, due to their families’ overburdened agendas of ballet and swimming lessons, language and music classes, of demanding sports activities, or because such things are alien to a child who lives in misery, violence and war.
All children are gifted with fantastic imagination, but many have smothered personal dreams and have relegated to TV their right to imagine for themselves. So they grow up saturated with (mis)informations which they cannot process, vulnerable in their value code and confused as to what ethical principles to embrace.Other children can’t even afford to dream.
All children are generous, but there isn’t always one who teaches them to share what they have accumulated in their closets, lunch boxes and in their hearts. But some do not have closets or lunch boxes to accumulate things in, though their hearts may be overwhelmed.
All children need lots of love, but not all have one who will pay attention to what they say and do, who will stay with them on weekends or times of fear, who won’t bartender loving care with presents and promises. For many children, though, it will be a gain to merely survive.
All children love to dream, but if in their journey they do not meet one who will inflate their dreams as a balloon that flies toward utopia, they will run the risk of seeking in drug chemistry what they miss in self-esteem.
All children love sweets, but not all are taught to appreciate fruits and greens, early in life compensating with their mouth what they lack in their hearts. Many children, though, have neither sweets nor fruits, only hungry bellies bloated with worms.
All children love to hear tales and stories, but not all have someone ready to tell them or to read them bible stories. For many of them life itself is a horror story.
All children imitate the grownups they admire, but not all learn to know Jesus and Francis of Assisi, Mary and little Therese, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr, and Mandela,… and grow up instead captivated by the Exterminator or the likes of bin Laden.
All children thirst for joy, but how can we expect them to smile if, in their presence, adults talk about and show racism and prejudices, and their greed for money and material things, or hatred for those who have them?
All children are not aware of death as a real threat, and none of them decides to kill another human being, take up arms, or terrorize or mutilate civilian populations, even other children. If children steal, take drugs or kill, it’s because the world of adults has condemned them to be the opposite of what they are and are meant to be.
All children love to dream, but if in their journey they do not meet one who will inflate their dreams as a balloon that flies toward utopia, they will run the risk of seeking in drug chemistry what they miss in self-esteem.
All children are convinced that, left in their hands, this would be a better world, because no child can bear to see another go hungry, live in misery, or be victim of war and violence.
All children dream of saving this world of ours; its destiny is in their hands and they can do it!
But they need us to help them make the dream come true.
(From Xaverian Mission Newsletter)