“Ah! what would the world be to us If the children were no more? We should dread the desert behind us Worse than the dark before.” -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) U.S. poet.
Children hold the world in their hands, but what kind of world do they hold? The world, in which children are given for their future, is that in which we create. A child’s destiny is often nothing more than the legacy of the past. Children around the world are being left in the shadows of war and conflict, hindered by poverty and a lack of education. Sexual violence and gender inequality continues to follow them through the decades, for which they then pass on to their children.
Sadly, in giving children a world of nothing more than hate and destruction, we rob them of their childhood. The freedom that comes with innocence is lost; childhood laughter and the simplicity of games are no longer a daily function, all of which leaves nations of children with little self worth. The loss of these basic rights leaves children without a sense of positive empowerment, and thus we face the fear of living in a world without children.
