soap box
Ragan's post about China and India and the overpopulation problem got me thinking and hence, I'm on my soapbox. I guess you could say my life in the past few years (and hopefully in the future) can be characterized by upholding the ideals of social justice. It's my passion. (One of them-- I'm a libra :)
Last night I was thrilled to be flipping through the channels and stumble upon one of HBO's great documentaries. In my opinion, HBO's orginal programming (series, movies, and documentaries) set the standard for cinematogrpahic art. Brilliant! The documentary was called "Broken Child." I couldn't find the year it was produced, but I assume it was fairly recently. The premise of the documentary was that abused and neglected children will grow to be parents who are abusive and neglectful. The documentary was filled with stories of elementary children, the youngest, a five year old kindergartener, who could look you in the eye and describe in detail the murder of one or both biological parents as it happened before their eyes. Many of these children became wards of a relative or the state and were abused in their new home environments.
A story was also told of a boy whose mother was a teenage alcoholic and was actually drunk when she gave birth. The boy was born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and is ten years old now and looks like a normal, healthy ten year old. However, there are certain moments when he snaps. He has no concept of empathy or inflicting pain upon others and has nearly killed both of his parents with a knife and a gun. The FAS effected the part of his brain that says, "Stop." If he's upset, he goes for it. The family only keeps one knife in the house, and that's the knife they and their guests share over dinner.
All of these children are filled with so much rage. The young children who have seen family members murdered right in front of them, most times are not encouraged to seek help, as they are often neglected at home and/or their economic situation does not allow for expensive professional help. Hence, they enter school two to three grade levels behind where they should be because of the emotional and physical effects of the trauma they have experienced. They grow up to be uneducated, voilent adults who constitute much of the prison population in America. All because no one was observant enough/took the time/cared enough to offer help to these young children who have suffered so much pain in their short lifetimes.
This is my passion. Extend help while they're young. Care. Don't just look and say, "Oh that's sad. It's probably because they live in such a bad neighborhood." Cross the tracks. Look into their eyes. Tell them you believe in them and want to help if they want you to. I'm so tired of hearing how somebody else got shot at school today, like at Douglass a couple of days ago. I knew that girl. She's gonna be OK, but the next one might not be.
