Suffer the children

Thursday, May 21, 2009

It is just overwhelming.

Caylee Anthony
Haileigh Cummings
Jessica Lundsford
Sandra Cantu
Shari Coleman and 2 sons strangled by their own father
baby boy thrown from car window and killed
man on PCP bit out his 4-year-old son's eyes
boy buried in sand at park
father threw kids off bridge
Laci Peterson with unborn baby boy killed

I know I need to stop watching Nancy Grace but whether I do or not doesn't change these stories. And these are just the ones at the top of my head. It is so sick and sad. I am almost crushed by the weight of gratitude that my children were given to ME - a mother who will not hurt them and who loves them and will protect them - and not some sociopath. Not all of these kids were killed by their parents but most were.
It's been on my mind a lot and I just had to get it out.

A Prayer for the Children… by Ina J. Hughes



We pray for the children

who put chocolate fingers everywhere,

who like to be tickled,

who stomp in puddles and ruin their new pants,

who sneak Popsicles before supper,

who erase holes in math workbooks,

who can never find their shoes.



And we pray for those

who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire,

who’ve never squeaked across the floor in new sneakers,

who never had crayons to count,

who are born in places we wouldn’t be caught dead,

who never go to the circus,

who live in an X-rated world.



We pray for children

who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,

who sleep with the dog and bury goldfish,

who give hugs in a hurry and forget their lunch money,

who cover themselves with Band-Aids and sing off-key,

who squeeze toothpaste all over the sink,

who slurp their soup.



And we pray for those

who never get dessert,

who watch their parents watch them die,

who have no safe blanket to drag behind,

who can’t find any bread to steal,

who don’t have any rooms to clean up,

whose pictures aren’t on anybody’s dresser,

whose monsters are real.



We pray for children

who spend all their allowance before Tuesday,

who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food,

who like ghost stories,
who shove dirty clothes under the bed,

who never rinse out the tub,

who get visits from the tooth fairy,

who don't like to be kissed in front of the school,

who squirm in church or temple or mosque
and scream in the phone,

whose tears we sometimes laugh at and
whose smiles can make us cry.



And we pray for those

whose nightmares come in the daytime,

who will eat anything,

who aren't spoiled by anybody,

who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep,

who live and move, but have no being.


We pray for children who want to be carried,
and for those who must.

For those we never give up on,

and for those who never get a chance.

For those we smother with our love,

and for those who will grab the hand of anybody
kind enough to offer it.