Suffer Little Children

Trey Smith

Children.

Every religion and belief system celebrates them. Children are the focal point of every family. Politicians and government leaders often wrap their policies around them. They tell us that they support or oppose this and that because they want to create a better world for the children of today AND tomorrow. Children, of course, represent our hopes and dreams for the future.

But for all the love and praise heaped on the children of the world, adults fail them miserably time and time again. Nearly 12 percent of the children in the developed world live in poverty and this figure pales in comparison to those impoverished children who live in what are called third world countries.

We Americans like to think of our nation as the greatest country on the planet and yet our child poverty rate is staggering. According to a recent report, "One in five children in the United States was living in a family with an income below the official poverty level in 2011."

Pause for a moment to try to wrap your head around that. In this wealthy nation -- one where the Dow Jones Industrial Average stands at over 13,300 -- one out of every five children goes to bed hungry and worries about what tomorrow might bring. You want to talk about an obscenity, well, it's right there!  No need to look any further.

If we truly value children as much as we SAY we do, then we MUST do everything within our power to reverse this vulgar trend. If not, then our words and beliefs amount to nothing.