“You cannot teach a child to take care of himself unless you will let him try to take care of himself. He will make mistakes; and out of these mistakes will come his wisdom…”-Henry Ward Beecher, 1813-1887, American Congregationalist clergyman
This column today is dedicated to Leiby Kletzky, 8. This youngster was brutally killed and mutilated in July 2011. The murderer was apprehended.
Emmett Till, while visiting his relatives in Mississippi on Aug. 28, 1955, was abducted and his body was found mutilated in a nearby river. Till’s killers were tried and acquitted.
I have written many poems concerning the well-being of children, however, I feel that the following poem, which was written by Marian Wright Edelman, the first Black woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar and one of the founders of the Legal Defense and Educational Fund, encompasses all of the children on this planet.
Prayers for our Beloved Children
O God of all children of Somalia, Sarajevo, South Africa, and South Carolina
Of Albania, Alabama, Bosnia, and Boston,
Of Cracow and Cairo, Chicago, and Croatia,
Help us to love and respect and protect them all.
O God of Black and Brown and White and Albino children and all those mixed together,
Of children who are rich and poor and in between,
Of children who speak English and Spanish and Russian and Hmong and languages our ears cannot discern,
Help us to love and respect and protect them all.
O God of the child prodigy and the child prostitute, of the child of rapture and the child of rape,
Of runaway or thrown-away children who struggle everyday without parent or place or friend or future.
Help us to love and respect and protect them all.
O God of children who can walk and talk and hear and see and sing and dance and jump and play and of children who wish they could but can’t,
Of children who are loved and unloved, wanted and unwanted,
Help us to love and respect and protect them all.
O God of beggar, beaten, abused, neglected, homeless, AIDS, drug and hunger-ravaged children,
Of children who are emotionally and physically and mentally fragile, and of children who rebel and ridicule, torment and taunt,
Help us to love and respect and protect them all.
O God of children of destiny and despair, of war and peace,
Of disfigured, diseased and dying children,
Of children without hope and children with hope to spare and to share,
Help us to love and respect and protect them all.
Finally, I would like to close with a poem that I wrote.
Reflections on a dead boy
(In memory of 10-year-old Clifford Glover, only one of the little boys who are killed by the unconcerned. Who are the unconcerned?)
Who killed this boy?
I said, who killed this boy?
Was it you? Tell me, was it you?
To keep him alive, what did you do?
His frail body was running around.
His frail body fell to the ground.
Who helped him to grow? Who helped the boy to grow?
People, did you help? Did he know?
No time to cry people, don’t cry.
Little boys are still going to die.
Did you cradle Cliff in your arms?
Did you protect Cliff from life’s harms?
Little boys are not born to die.
On birthdays, loved ones don’t cry.
Your love must not dry up with your tears
For little boys will still live in fears.
With love and concern, we must keep the little boys alive!
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