You were once a child; I was once a child; we were once children; children of God, children of men. A treasure and a precious gift that must be well taken care of.
Friends, ladies and gentlemen, what has happened to the children? From the battlefields of Afghanistan to the bloodstained desert of Iraq, in the heart melting sceneries of countries hit by tsunami and of the many Filipino children homeless due to the recent flash flood. More than 3.5 million children's lives have been wasted in these nooks of the world, innocent as they were but died, nevertheless. They cry out for parents who were dead or missing, for homes that have been blasted into rubble and shattered into pieces. They loudly cry and shout for their stolen childhood filled with gunfire instead of laughter.
As you listen to this speech of mine, I know most of you might wonder why I have chosen to say something about this topic. This may not interest you for I know most of you came from a blessed family. Though it's a fact that, I too, felt the same. But if fate would change and destiny would reshuffle itself. What if we were in those children's position? Children who were, raped and even killed afterwards by a neighbor, a relative, a bystander or even by her own father. Children forced to do hard labor.
Children begging for alms across Divisoria and of a young girl, who landed into prostitution dens and eventually young boys and girls recruited as guerillas in this seemingly never ending armed conflicts in the southern part of Mindanao. You see?? Who wouldn't wish to be out of this dark pit? Who wouldn't want to stop destiny from reshuffling, if this is what will going to happen to our lives? I felt it. I hope you did too. I felt their agony, their pain. Don't pretend to be deaf; don't act as if you are blind… we are totally experiencing a world a whole lot different from that of theirs. Look at us, look at our clothes, look at these electronic gadgets that we have. A total of our expenses on loads may be a week long meal for them. These little realizations, in due course, could lead us to extending a helping hand for them. This is your own choice. And that choice could change a person's life.
Be happy if you are blessed but don't feel superior to those who are not. As God said, we can only enter the kingdom of heaven if we will be like little children; humbling ourselves and feeling the essence of equality among mankind. We were once children. Let the spirit and purity of a child's heart live forever in our lives.
would read and consider your words. Take care.