Ok, here is my answer to the question, “How can we make the world’s children a priority in 2007?” that I discussed in this post (and thanks to those of you who took the time to give me your answer.)

How do we make the world's children a priority?

I say we have to be their voice.

To make children a priority…ALL children, everywhere…they need a voice. People need to know what the children's needs are, how they are suffering, where the “systems” are failing them, which of their basic needs aren’t being met, and how they can be helped.

So often people live in their own little “bubble” of a world…blissfully unaware of what is going on around them near and far or just too busy to worry about anything that isn’t right under their noses, and children are so often overlooked because they can’t usually be a voice for themselves.

So we need to be their voice.

We need to be the voice for our own children…whether it is with a doctor who is not paying attention to their symptoms as he should, or if it is with a school that is not meeting the child’s needs for whatever reason, or if it is with a bully that is making life miserable for another child on the bus or the playground. Our children need our love, support, attention, devotion and time. We need to advocate for our own children, ensure that their needs are being met and that we are always there to back them up.

We need to be the voice for the other children in our area…whether it is a neighbor child who is being left home alone, or a child you suspect is being abused, or a child in a poor family that could use some help. It is easy to turn a blind eye…to have it be someone else’s problem…to be too busy. But we need to advocate for the children in our cities and towns.

We need to be the voice for the children in our country…whether it is the children in the foster care system who are often overlooked and shuffled around, or the children who are suffering in poverty like the children on the Diane Sawyer special a few weeks ago, or children who aren’t receiving medical and dental care, or children who are in any other way being neglected or abused or are suffering. We need to advocate for the children that are going to grow up and be the adults in our country.

We need to be the voice for the children of the world…whether it is the millions of children who are orphans, children who are starving, little boys being used for soldiers, little girls being used in the sex-trade or children suffering from preventable and treatable diseases. We need to advocate for the world’s children…we need to care and we need to help because we are in a position to do so, even if in a small way.

We need to care and we need to let people know that the suffering is going on, because the first step in finding help for a situation is making people aware that help is needed.

We need to be the children’s voice.


Continued...