THOUGHTS
It is interesting to note that when it comes to children, almost everybody has a tender spot in their heart. Even the most hardened adults can be found grinning self-consciously at the antics of a toddler. Just watch somebody’s face change when a baby smiles at them . . . they start talking baby talk and get the sappiest look on their face as that baby engages with them. My own grandchildren melt my heart when they put their small hands into mine or run into my arms. My greatest regret is that, except for little Hank they are getting too big to pick up and plant big smooches on those kissable cheeks. The eyes of a child are windows into heaven’s joys. They represent our “new start”; our hope in a sometimes dark and scary world.
“It’s for the children” is a term used by politicians and ideologues alike and even the phrase makes our hearts soften. We feel a part of a better cause; one that will bring great dividends for our future. We want to be a part of making it a better world for them; to give them the best chance for a fulfilled and prosperous life.
Yet, in studying child abuse statistics, reading and watching the news, and seeing for ourselves that we have not done the best job in protecting them, I think in our heart of hearts we know that something is not right. There is a dichotomy between our words and our actions. We like the warm fuzzy part of children but we often are blind to their real needs and concerns. “Every child a wanted child” is the battle cry of those who support abortion, but I say they are not only wrong, they are short-sighted. Their solution is to get rid of the problem; our solution should be to care for the “orphans” who have come into a world that is not so nice for them. They are imprisoned in a world that exploits them, abuses them and considers them a nuisance and another mouth to feed; something that is getting in the way of what their parents want.
Those parents who love and want to care for their children are in a prison too…in order to protect children from those who would exploit and harm them moms and dads have to follow them around like jailers to protect them. No longer can a child go to a public park alone and play and dream as I once did. Children today are not even safe in their own beds or front yards. There is no way a mom can feel really good about sending her child to a public pool with his/her friends without supervision. My grandsons cannot even go into a restroom alone without having us be right outside the door in case they yell for help. Libraries, once a place for exploring knowledge and information and hours of browsing, have become a haven for pedophiles, roaming the Internet for child pornography on the libraries’ computers. Unsuspecting children are easy prey for these perverted men and sadly, even some women. What used to be a time to explore has become for children a dangerous minefield of peril.
We long to protect our children; to give them the childhood we can remember. For some of us it was days in the park; hours in the library; and riding bikes all over our part of town, giving us a sense of freedom and adventure a child so craves.
CWA of Kansas has been working for several years on protecting women and children from the cultural shift that has occurred since the fifties. We have found that those listed on the Sexual Offender Registry on the Kansas Bureau of Investigation Web site are there mostly because of various sexual crimes committed against children. (On average 71%) In looking at these statistics and others, we have come to realize that the instinctive urge parents have to put their children in a “prison of protection” from these offenders is prudent. We are presently working on getting a broad coalition of people to help us convince those in authority that protecting children is a priority; that it is more important than anything we can do for them. The devastation a child suffers at the hands of a predator is enduring; no one can restore what has been lost…indeed, taken from them. In the words of a victim of child abuse:
“It’s like where is my childhood? It feels like somebody put it in a box somewhere and I’m not allowed to look at it. Like it’s locked up…It’s like I k want my box; I know I got one. And who took it, and who had the right to steal it from me?”
We are presenting information about sexual predators and their victims this week at a Senate Federal and State Affairs committee meeting. We are committed to changing this shameful trend in our country and putting the right people in prison. Please help us…we need more members whose voices clamor in the ears of legislators, policy makers and district attorneys and judges. We need your prayers and your support in this effort. Do it for the children.
In Him,
Judy Smith
State Director