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Over New Year’s we were in Iowa to visit my brother and his family. My brother’s son and his wife had twins, a boy and a girl, last summer. We visited with my nephew, his wife and grandnephew Hudson and grandniece Zoe. There was the obligatory pictures with the twins. In the picture with my wife Pat, all three persons seem to be smiling but Hudson on the right seems to be not so sure of why to smile.

Children all over the world are so dependent and innocent it is good to see them grow in such a loving environment. However, many children are born into broken homes suffering impoverishment or in war torn environments. I think it is the beauty of innocent children that makes so sad when I see children neglected or hurt by politicians.

News stories during this Holy Time of Christmas scream out to me, stories like Obama Administration Begins Large-Scale Deportations. It turns out that a large number of this deportees are children who crossed over the boarder to escape the killing and violence in their countries. Another one that constantly disturbs me is the number of innocent children in the countries we are bombing or using Killer Drones are dying at US hands. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism reports almost 2,500 now killed by covert US drone strikes since Obama inauguration six years ago.

It is not just the Presidential Administration that is causing such suffering and death of children. It is city, county and state officials who are denying children good health, sufficient foods, safe environment or a good education. Actually it is all of us, not just officials, that allows such conditions for children to survive. Often people say we do not like it but there is nothing we can do about it to stop it. That is true if we look at elections as the only way to make structural change. But history teaches us that is not elections that make significant change but a movement of people demanding in words and actions change. Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders make calls for nonviolent actions like a General Strike. However, those who do not want to change tell us that would not work and just vote and many of us believe them.
Killing children in urban life or at war almost always backfires. The suffering of children motivates some to fight back, often in ways of violence.

If we cared for our children and children of our brothers and sisters all over the U.S.A. and world we would stand up to the ‘powers to be’ and say STOP hurting our innocent children and we will do whatever we need to do to stop it.

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