What are we doing to our children?

The world is a difficult place to live in right now.

Every day there is another news story that makes me want to cry.

Some of them seem like big, huge, scary things. Some of them seem like smaller, sad, things.

But every day there is more and more, and every day I am haunted by the same thought…

What are we doing to our children?

I remember the indigenous child who was abused by correctional facility staff.

I see the photo of the tiny boy, sitting in the back of the ambulance in Aleppo, wounded more than just physically.

I read about the atrocities our country is acting out against refugees in detention.

I see people living on the streets in ‘the world’s most liveable city’, my city.

I hear politicians say there is a right and wrong way to be a family, and that others have a right to comment on who or how people love.

I see white supremacists marching on the news, teaching hate and violence.

I see children who are put in the ‘too hard basket’ by our school systems, and teachers who burn out trying to fill all the gaps.

I hear about children being shot and killed at school… can you imagine being afraid to send your child to school because they might die????

I see children publicly shamed and humiliated on social media in the name of ‘discipline’.

I listen to policy makers who simply don’t care what we are doing to the world.

And all I can think is…

What are we doing to our children?

When did we forget what it was like to be a child?
When did we stop valuing our children?
When did we forget that one day these children will be adults, and those adults will be taking care of this planet, taking care of us?

When did so many things become more important than our children?

 
I don’t know if it makes a difference, but I just had to say it, somewhere.
Because being quiet, and doing nothing, that will never make a difference.

So I’m going to remember our children, all of them, and try to do the best I can.