There are few things in this life more difficult to experience than the loss
of one's child. Jim Wallis, in WHO SPEAKS FOR GOD tells about a sad and
terrifying incident that occurred during the tragic war in Sarajevo not too many
years back. A reporter who was covering the violence in the middle of the city
saw a little girl fatally shot by a sniper.
The reporter threw down his pad and pencil and rushed to the aid of a man who
was now holding the child. He helped them both into his car and sped off to a
hospital.
"Hurry, my friend," the man urged, "my child is still alive." A moment or two
later he pleaded, "Hurry, my friend, my child is still breathing." A little
later he said, "Hurry, my friend, my child is still warm."
When they got to the hospital, the young girl was gone. "This is a terrible task
for me," the distraught man said to the reporter. "I must go tell her father
that his child is dead. He will be heartbroken."
The reporter was amazed. He looked at the grieving man and said, "I thought she
was YOUR child."
The man replied, "No, but aren't they all our children?"
I think that is one of the great questions of our age. Aren't they all our
children? It is a question that deserves an answer.
Aren't they all our children? Those who live under our roof and those who reside
with another family? Those to whom we are related as well as those whom we have
never known?
Aren't they all our children? Those on our side of the border as well as those
on the other side? Those of our nation no more or less than those of another?
Aren't they all our children? Those who worship like us and those who worship
differently? Those who look like us and those who do not?
Aren't they all our children? The well-educated and the under-educated? The
well-fed and the under-fed? Those who are secure and those who are at risk?
Aren't they all our children? The highly valued and highly esteemed as well as
the castaways and the lost?
Aren't they all our children? Aren't they all our responsibility? ALL of them?
Ours to nurture? Ours to protect? Ours to love?
I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that the survival of our world hinges
on the answer to that question.
To say they are NOT all our children is to condemn the world to more struggle –
family against family, group against group, nation against nation.
Aren't they all our children? If we say yes, can we ever again pit them against
each other? "If we have no peace," said Mother Teresa, "it is because we have
forgotten that we belong to each other."
Aren't they all our children?
There may be no greater question for our generation. And how we answer that
question will determine the shape of our world for years to come.
Trick or Treating - Keep
Your Kids Safe Halloween is a holiday loved by kids everywhere. It’s a fun time
to dress up like silly or scary characters and go trick-or-treating in the
neighborhood. Be sure your kids are safe while trick-or-treating with these
quick tips..
