Who Will Teach The Children They Are Special? Do You Want To Help?

Every child is unique, one of a kind. Sometimes we forget to tell them.

Sometimes we forget to tell them.

Each child born is special and full of possibilities. Most will never understand that they are unique or how incredible they are. Some will never know love.

“Each second we live in a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that never was before and will never be again. And what do we teach our children in school? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are? We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all of the world there is no other child exactly like you. In the millions of years that have passed there has never been another child like you… You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is like you, a marvel? You must cherish one another. You must work — we must all work — to make this world worthy of its children.”

~Pablo Casals, cellist, composer, and conductor

According to UNICEF, an average of 353,000 babies are born each day worldwide.

What will happen to them?

We see the images on television advertisements and the evening news moving us emotionally. We ask ourselves, how can we help?

Then we have dinner and watch our nightly dose of comedy and drama programs. The images of the starving children blur in our minds, and although they may linger there, we do nothing.

Our lives move along in their daily routines. Certainly, we may feel some guilt the next time the images float through our minds, but we do nothing.

Do we have the financial ability to help? For the most part, the answer is probably no. Many people in the United States also live in poverty and need help. We see their pictures on the nightly news too.

As I write this, I wonder if there has ever been a survey showing the percentage of low-income people who give money to those in need and how many wealthy people contribute. How would the percentages compare?

My assumption is low-income people contribute more. Am I wrong? Quite possibly, I am, but because they also suffer in some way, low-income people are more inclined to help someone else.

Yes, wealthy people contribute large sums of money, and we will probably hear it on the evening news, read about it on the internet, or see it splashed across the headlines of a magazine.

I guess the point I am trying to make is there is inequity in the understanding, caring, and giving between the impoverished and the wealthy.

The truth is, we should all be contributing. If we all gave a small amount, a small percentage of our income, the impact would be huge.

Children have many needs, and the world we live in presents many problems for their well-being such as hunger, a safe place to live, clean water, homelessness, education, health care, and safety to name a few.

Children are exploited across the world and surrounded by danger.

Poverty is the biggest obstacle to solving all of them.

I am talking about all children. Our own, someone who lives down the street, goes to school with our child, lives in another state, and the millions of children worldwide.

When I think of the future, I see more challenges for all people. We are faced with Climate Change and Global Warming and by its impactful effect.

Water shortages and lack of food will cause a significant increase in mass migration. We are already seeing that happen. We cannot stick our heads in the sand and believe it will not affect us because it already is.

Our oceans and streams are polluted and the water contaminated. Large species of sea life are dying. Animals are facing extinction, and this will continue.

Now is the time for a change — a change in our way of thinking and our reactions.

Humans are intelligent beings, but we like our personal comforts and are happy within the little bubbles we create for ourselves. We do indeed stick our heads in the sand and ignore whatever we fear. If we don’t see it, it cannot hurt us.

We not only need to contribute to the world our children live in now. We need to make adequate preparation now to provide them with life in the future.

When I think of children, I think of joy. I think of excitement and wonder. I see smiling faces, exuberance, and laughter.

That is what I saw in my own children’s faces and now in those of my grandchildren.

That is what all children should look like.

All children need and should have a good, safe, stable life — a life filled with opportunity.

“Let the children be free; encourage them;

let them run outside when it is raining;

let them remove their shoes when they find a puddle of water;

and when the grass of the meadows is wet with dew,

let them run on it and trample it with their bare feet;

let them rest peacefully when a tree invites them to sleep beneath its shade;

let them shout and laugh when the sun wakes them in the morning.”

— Maria Montessori

We need to tell our children, all children, how special they are. Each child should know they are unique and have the capacity for anything they can imagine.

As Pablo Casals said, “children should cherish one another. You must work — we must all work — to make this world worthy of its children.”

If you want to contribute financially, this is a list of ten organizations that help children across the world:

Unicef (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) https://www.unicef.org/

Save The Children https://www.savethechildren.org/us/about-us

Children International https://www.children.org/learn-more

Feed the Children https://www.feedthechildren.org/about/

Make-a-Wish Foundation https://wish.org/

International Literacy Association https://www.literacyworldwide.org/about-us

International Child Art Foundation https://www.icaf.org/about/

SOS Children’s Villages https://www.sos-childrensvillages.org/our-work

World of Children https://worldofchildren.org/

Global Fund for Children https://globalfundforchildren.org/about-us/

There are many more organizations that are not shown here. I cannot recommend a particular organization that is better than any of the others listed. If you want to contribute, I recommend doing your own research.

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