Tag Archives: children

March 12, 2013 · 9:29 pm

Tears remain

Be careful.
Keep safe.
Don’t get into trouble.
If trouble comes looking for you . . .
run!

So they told him -
those who loved him,
who heard his first cries,
who held him at his birth,
those who would protect him
from a world in which children
die too soon
so often
that no tears remain to shed for them.
Be careful.
Keep safe.
Don’t get into trouble.
If trouble comes looking for you . . .
run!
He heard their words
and learned them well.
When gunshots
tore the silence
of the street where he played,
he ran.
For cover he ran;
for safety he ran;
for his very life he ran.
Following the sidewalk;
cutting through the grass;
leaping up the steps, he ran -
his heart racing
faster than his feet.
Sprinting across the porch;
throwing open the door;
stumbling through the doorstep, he ran -
entering what should have been the safety
of his own home.
Filled with fear
and their words, he ran still -
his fingers touched the bannister
as he began to mount the stairs
that led to his room,
the wall beside him exploded -
a chunk of hot lead
ripping through vinyl siding,
spraying drywall,
violating his body,
tearing life from him.
Be careful.
Keep safe.
Don’t get into trouble.
If trouble comes looking for you . . .
run!
So they told him -
those who loved him,
who heard his final gasps,
who held him as his lifeblood pooled around him
those who tried, but could not protect him
from a world in which children
die too soon
so often
yet still tears remain to shed for them. 

15 August 2001
Cleveland Heights, Ohio

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January 12, 2013 · 1:39 pm

Drones

Unmanned they prowl
across the sky.

While leaders pose
to justify.

Bombs may be smart,
yet children die.

Let’s also Remember the 176 children Killed by US Drones by Juan Cole

Shire on the Hudson
12 January 2012

 

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December 14, 2012 · 3:16 pm

In Ramah

I am weeping.
With Rachel, I am weeping.

I am weeping.
Again, I am weeping.

I am weeping.
Inside, I am weeping.

I am weeping.
In all the Ramahs of our world, I am weeping.

I am weeping
and I refuse -
and I will not be -
and I hope to Christ I never will be -
comforted.

Children -
our children all -
are killed
wounded
violated
abandoned
exploited
neglected
misused.

I am weeping.
I will not be comforted.

Outside, I appear calm.
I go about my work.

But within the calm
and amidst the weeping,
I dream of a different world
and I ponder what I may do
to help create that world
For our children – all our children.
I dream and I ponder
and I know I will find answers.

I am weeping.
Inside, I am weeping.
I will not be comforted.

But I will find ways to act.

14 December 2012
New York

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April 5, 2012 · 11:42 pm

A new perspective on ants

Last summer the Ghost Ranch Service Corps drew the task of cleaning the labyrinth. In the process of removing a bush, I hit upon a nest of ants. They climbed the shovel. They climbed inside my pants and socks. They boldly went places I did not want them to go. They showed up a couple of hours later.There seemed to number in the thousands; there were probably only a couple dozen. I can still feel them crawling on me as I remember.

Today I read a story that puts my experience in perspective. I will not complain about it again.

Famine stalks the Sahel region of Africa. I looked up the Sahel. Encyclopedia Britannica defines it as a

semiarid region of western and north-central Africa extending from Senegal eastward to The Sudan. It forms a transitional zone between the arid Sahara (desert) to the north and the belt of humid savannas to the south. The Sahel stretches from the Atlantic Ocean eastward through northern Senegal, southern Mauritania, the great bend of the Niger River in Mali, Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta), southern Niger, northeastern Nigeria, south-central Chad, and into The Sudan.

The hunger season has come to the Sahel. UNICEF estimates that 1 million children are in danger of dying from severe acute malnutrition. They go on to note that:

Over 15 million people in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal are directly affected by the crisis. And although the people of the Sahel are resilient, their position has been weakened by successive emergencies. The region suffered droughts in 2005 and 2010, and many families were forced to sell their livestock, pull children out of school, borrow money and get by with less food.

UNICEF estimates that it needs $120 million to feed the 1 million children under age 5 who will need lifesaving treatment for severe acute malnutrition.

As you might imagine, people facing such a situation will do most anything to survive. I think I have a good imagination. But it turns out that I could not begin to imagine what people might do.

From the Inter Press Service (emphasis added):

During a recent stop in the capital, Stephen Cockburn, Oxfam International West Africa’s regional coordinator for campaigns and policy, described desperate measures he had seen in the countryside. “In Tassino, a village in the Mangalmé district in the central part of Guéra, women are breaking apart anthills, searching for grain stored there by ants,” he said.

Women are breaking apart anthills, searching for grain stored there by ants.

My heart breaks to read those words. My mind reels as I struggle to imagine that experience – the desperate courage that leads to such an act – and the ants – everywhere the ants.

I made a gift to UNICEF and took a silent vow never to complain about the ants again.

See you along the Trail.

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March 15, 2012 · 10:24 pm

Study war no more

It is found in the United Nations building, part of the display about the UN’s work on militarism.

Each time I see it,  the picture touches a chord of hope in my heart. My soul sings.

We can lay our weapons down – by the riverside – in the desert – on the street corners – wherever we may be – we can lay our weapons down. And study war no more. And begin the hard work of building a just peace.

Yesterday I toured the UN. And the picture carried even deeper meaning than usual. The International Criminal Court had announced its first verdict ever. In that decision, the court found Thomas Lubanga Dyilo guilty of conscripting, enlisting, and actively using children under the age of 15 in hostilities in the Ituri district of the Democratic Republic of the Congo during 2002 and 2003.

The court’s decision  underscored the picture’s meaning. The picture underscored the court’s decision.

Art and the judicial process intertwining to proclaim hope.

See you along the Trail.

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March 11, 2012 · 1:40 pm

UNICEF Tap Project

Can you buy a round – of water?

You can if you make a gift to the UNICEF Tap Project.

Too many children in too many places do not have access to clean water.  Lots of folks, including some funded by UNICEF, work very hard to change that – and things are getting better.

March 22 brings World Water Day – what better time to raise a glass and share a glass?

Check out this Tap Project video for more details.

See you along the Trail.

 

 

 

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January 21, 2012 · 1:44 pm

Two weeks in January 2012

I had the privilege to spend the last two weeks with a January Term Doctor of Ministry class that met at the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations – my employer. Mark Douglas of Columbia Theological Seminary led the class as it considered the Environment and Ecumene.

Class participants included Elizabeth Adams, Katie Preston, Carol Underwood, and John Weems. My colleague, Ryan Smith, helped coordinate and lead the class. Ricky Velez-Negron, our office manager, provided wonderful hospitality and organizational support; she also took the picture of the class beside the Isaiah Wall. Volunteers Peng Leong, from First Chinese Presbyterian Church, and Grace Bickers, Columbia University student, joined us for a number of the sessions.

Speakers came from ministries of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), UN programs and our colleagues and friends from the UN NGO community.

The content included the UN and environmental concerns to climate change, land and water, women and the environment, children and the environment, indigenous peoples and the environment, food and hunger and the environment, conflict and the environment, and more.

The class attended a policy lunch on climate change and agriculture sponsored by the NGO Working Group on Food and Hunger. The class also attended a meeting of the Sustainable Development Working Group of the Conference of NGOs.

On Thursday, January 12, class members led worship at the Church Center for the United Nations.

Representatives of First Chinese Presbyterian Church, Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, Huguenot Memorial Church, Old Bergen Church, and the Presbyterian Church of the Mountain joined the class on Thursday, January 19 for conversations about how congregations can care for creation. Rebecca Barnes-Davies, PC(USA) associate for Environmental Ministries helped facilitate the discussion.

Worship ended the class. We gathered in the Tillman Chapel of the Church Center for the United Nations and walked to the Isaiah Wall for closing prayers. After quick goodbyes, class members returned to their homes with new visions for ministry.

Gifts to the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations make possible the class.

I look forward to 2014 when another group will gather for another class on another topic.

See you along the Trail.

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December 16, 2011 · 11:18 am

A good news update

About a month ago, I posted about our Cleveland Heights neighbor Andre. A friend of our older son, Andre had been seriously injured in a one-car accident. Recognizing that I should have done a better job of posting updates, I say with joy today that Andre’s recovery progresses. He will spend a night this weekend in his own apartment to see how he manages.

Thanks to all who have read about Andre – prayed for Andre – thought good thoughts for Andre – or simply had your heart touched by his story.

See you along the Trail.

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November 22, 2011 · 6:28 pm

A worthy answer

Tracker, the movie of the night, involves Ray Winstone chasing Temuera Morrison across the beauty that is New Zealand. Winstone’s character, a Boer from South Africa, has emigrated after the Boer War. Morrison’s character, a Māori, stands accused of murder.

A detachment of New Zealand soldiers chase Winstone and Morrision. Some of the soldiers fought in the Boer War and witnessed the atrocities of that war. Some did not. In a conversation, one of the soldiers who served says to one of the soldiers who did not:

Just be sure that, when your children ask you what you did, what you did in defense of the realm, you are able to give them a worthy answer.

Sound advice.

Yet it seems to me that this version of the quote provides pretty sound advice to us all in any situation: “Just be sure that, when your others ask you what you did, you are able to give them a worthy answer.”

See you along the Trail.

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November 20, 2011 · 7:50 pm

A reminder

Not that we need any reminders of how precious and fragile life can be; still they come to us almost daily.

I just got an email from Tricia who had just talked to our next door neighbor Al in Cleveland Heights.

Al and Pam’s son Andre was in a serious one-car accident on Friday.  He’s in Metro Hospital in Cleveland with numerous broken bones, including neck and back, a head gash… not breathing on his own at this point, has had several surgeries.  They believe he probably fell asleep at the wheel – his car hit a tree.  They had to revive him.

Andre and my son Sean are the same age. They graduated from high school together. They were never close – but they were neighbors and friends.

I remember playing catch with them as children – tossing footballs and baseballs.

I remember birthday parties when they were little.

I remember walking home from church one day and finding Andre and Sean sitting on our steps using sticks to shoot at cars – they must have been four; neither Tricia and I nor Al and Pam allowed our sons to have toy guns, but they figured it out anyhow.

I remember when they broke one of our basement windows playing soccer. Pam’s father fixed it.

I remember their graduation. Laughing, dreaming, posing for pictures.

I remember talking to Andre about what he was doing and what Sean was doing when I would come home through the years.

I remember. And today I pray. And I ask you to do the same.

See you along the Trail.

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