They're Your Children, Too!

This Op-Ed piece in the NY Times broke my heart. How is it that our society, culture, government, neighborhoods, schools--all of us--can turn our backs on this domestic war on our children? We are happy with our fancy cars, dvd players, cell phones, computers, manicures, dinners out, etc. How do we sleep at night? I am as complicit as the next as I take the time to write this rather than working with a child. I do work my butt off in the classroom and in the library to help children develop the skills needed for life-saving opportunities that may come their way, but the opportunities must come their way. And, they must literally survive their childhood (physically and mentally) to reach those open doors. Where is the business world in all of this? They are the ones with the money. Are they truly sans ethics? Where is the government? (We know they are usually sans ethics.) Where is the little guy organization making it possible? Hmmm, watching the body count from Iraq? I have no answers about this today. I only have sadness. Those lost children will be missed. Consider the poetry, the laughter, the scientific breakthroughs, the financial theories, . . . , the love they will never be able to offer the rest of us. Yes, just sadness.