Children Have Worth

I wish I was able to explain my internship. Tell you exactly what I do and who I work with, but I can't. I will say that I work with children.

I will also tell you that institutional racism DOES exist and it starts young. We're putting a value on their precious lives and telling them how much they are worth with the difference in what they receive. Children notice when their schools roof is leaking into the corner of their classroom. They see when their classrooms are temporarily moved to another building because their building doesn't pass health inspections. They feel it when they are asked to draw on the broken chalkboards because there isn't enough paper in the room even for academic use never the less recreation.

How do we let this happen? Children don't make choices, they don't choose to be poor, to have incarcerated parents, to be abused..how can we justify punishing them? They are being punished! How do we reconcile the vicious cycle we create? Statistically children don't escape this and we're just recreating this generation in the next and yet we do nothing - change nothing. We are then surprised when in 10-15 years these children are making the same mistakes and have the same low self worth induced bad habits and they'll have children who we will also punish. How do we escape this..when do we start valuing children in spite of parents or their situation or the fact that their home has more bugs than food.

I take fault in this. After all didn't I avoid "the bad part of town" and allow myself to cover my own eyes to this problem under the pretense of safety. Children live there. I am to scared to drive my beat up car through this neighborhood but children LIVE there. If driving through there with locked doors and fast speeds is unnerving why didn't I think of the little lives who are swallowed up by it daily. They have to sleep there with crooked roofs and drugs and bad choices being made for them..

I encourage you to drive through the bad part of town...wherever that is for you (with someone else..and locked doors) and consider the fact that their are children there. Look at where they live and picture your children there, look for a grocery store (I bet you won't see one..) look at their school..for a playground. It will break your heart but will you do something?

Its no secret that I love children who aren't given a chance..after all I do love Dmitriy. Somehow in the world there are children we don't value and who are never given a chance. Some of those children are in orphanages and institutions, but others are 30 minutes away in an area we refuse to see.