By Don and Margaret WIltshire
We are all the children of God, according to the child whose birthday we celebrate on the holiday called Christmas. What ever your spiritual beliefs, the child is always our salvation. Biology itself attests that having been a child and having children is important if we wish to exist at all.
Many of us are familiar with news stories of abuse, neglect and sexual assault of our young. Maybe you have wondered what is going wrong.
Was there any time in history where many children were not abused much of the time. In the western world with 2000 to 6000 so years of religious history, you might think that would be possible.
Possible maybe, but it didn’t happen. People of the bronze age thought, just like many in Soccorro County today, think they “own” their children and can do, therefore, whatever they like. Generation after generation of abuse occurs and is occurring.
Some people knew they didn’t “own” their children. Their children were a gift of life and as parents, their responsibility.
Responsibility is not ownership. Marriage licenses and birth certificates are not deeds of ownership today. Those documents today are contracts of shared responsibility, not ownership.
In this country, the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) was organized before there was a formal organization to protect children. The first president of the SPCA, Henry Bergh, did play a major role in changing conditions for children. This according to the text Understanding Child Abuse and Neglect by Cynthia Crosson-Tower.
This author relates the story of a child, Mary Ellen Wilson, and even shows before and after photos of this child. Mary Ellen was the illegitimate child of a woman’s first husband. Mary Ellen continued to live with this woman when her father died and the wife remarried.
Neighbors had often seen Mary Ellen locked out of the house, shivering on the door step. What drove them to take action, were the screams coming from Mary Ellen when she was being beaten with a leather strap, inside the house. They contacted a church worker Etta Wheeler and she contacted Henry Bergh of the SPCA.
Attorney Elbridge Gerry, a friend of Bergh, prosecuted the case. The “mother” got a year of hard labor in prison. Mary Ellen was placed in the Sheltering Arms Children’s home. The before picture shows a badly bruised, skinny and sad bare foot child. The after photo is a smiling, healthy looking and well dressed child.
Elbridge Gerry, attorney, went on to help found in 1875 the SPCC, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. 1875 is not that long ago. Sexual child assault and abuse only really started to be studied in the mid 1970s.
Life is hard. That is a fact that in this country we like to ignore, until we can’t. However, life is hard, for everyone. Surviving hardship makes people stronger? Possibly.
The child that endures assault of any kind in their childhood may survive, may be stronger. However, thriving and becoming the best they could be, is much more difficult. Often such people may want, with great motivation, to make things better for their children but don’t have a clue how to do that.
We are suppose to represent our parents, our first teachers and to identify with them. All too often the abused child does.
“Spare the rod, spoil the child”, is a bronze age expression. Written when horse power meant horse power and most people walked. You’d think we’d be smarter now.
In a world where we pretend life is lollipops and roses, we often bribe our children. Now that is a spoiler. We are teaching corruption.
No matter how old and worn we become, that child we are, resides in us. Value that child, value all the children. That is your future and that is our future.
So, do you have any Comments? Problems? Solutions? Up coming Events? Cheaper Flomax? Contact me at mtn_don@yahoo.com or (575) 854-3370.
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