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Dec.
2003
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Why
do children suffer? |
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Profound
question has no easy answer |
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James
Pankratz
Special to Parenting |
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There is a question too profound for words.
You can see it in the teary, wide-awake-with-anxiety eyes
of paramedics, emergency room nurses, teachers, social
workers, pediatricians, coaches, grandparents and, of
course, moms and dads.
“Why must children suffer?”
Sometimes it is a theological question. “God, why
must children suffer?” Then it is a plea and a protest.
Don’t expect to find the answer in this column.
In October the Children’s Defense Fund celebrated
its 30-year anniversary. It has tried to be a voice for
the suffering children of America, who have no power to
lobby on their own behalf. Marian Wright Edelman, the
founder of the organization, prepared a report card on
how the status of children in America has changed since
1973. Her report card appeared in the Oct. 19 edition
of Parade Magazine.
She assigned grades to categories impacting the quality
of life of children in the United States. She gave a “C”
to areas of infant mortality and gun violence among others.
Does anyone think a “C” is a grade to be proud
of? Particularly when her findings show that the U.S.
has:
• a higher infant mortality rate than 27 other industrialized
nations
• an average of eight children or teen-agers killed by
gunfire daily
And those, along with education, were the areas of progress.
She assigned a “D” grade to poverty. In 1973
the child poverty rate was 14 percent. In 2002 it was
17 percent. That boils down to one in five children mired
in poverty. The ranking among nations? Next to last in
a 2000 Unicef report.
Marian Edelman points out some averages:
• every 36 seconds a child is abused or neglected
• every 41 seconds a child is born into poverty
• every 59 seconds a baby is born without health insurance
• every three hours a child is killed by gunfire.
There are two schools of theology to explain the suffering
of children. Let’s call the first school the video
game school.
Here life is essentially a video game and we’re
all playing. Life is jam-packed with thrills and chills
all right, an unpredictable mix of horror, suffering,
relief and joy. It’s a frantic race, barreling down
narrow highways at breakneck speeds, bumping other cars
and sending them careening into a tree, leaping off towering
bridges, and parachuting from a thousand feet. Life is
a competition.
And best of all, the fastest players need never suffer
a broken bone, concussion, or even a scratch. There’s
no need to worry about those unlucky ones who spin out
and crash or never even leave the starting line.
If the winners do slow down long enough to wonder why
some are winners and others losers, they need only reflect
on the wisdom of the Programmer of the video game. He
set it up this way. The winners deserve to collect all
the fabulous prizes along the way and at the end of the
race as well. Their good fortune is an undeniable sign
of his blessing.
The losers are suffering the consequences of their own
foolishness, poor choices and even sins. And if the Programmer
chooses to reward some and punish others, what of it?
If the Programmer had wanted to invent a different game,
he could have. May the Programmer reward those in the
winner’s circle!
The second school of theology is the life-is-real school.
This has its roots in an event 2,000 years old in which
God decided to get his hands dirty. No cardboard plot
or contrived bail out. That was real sand in his eyes,
real hunger in his stomach, real blood from his wounds,
and real agony at the blood and sweat of the poor, the
sick, and of sinners. The Programmer entered the game,
which turned out to be no game at all. There was no reset
button to make it all go away. He taught that whatever
is, can be changed. But only through the hard work and
dedication of those who want to make a difference. He
taught that the suffering of others is often the result
of the economic and social choices that we make. He taught
that if we want children to have enough to eat, a place
to sleep, to be safe from crime, and to be loved, we’d
better do something about it. The suffering of children
is real. And human beings have free will. The Programmer
decided not to program the outcome. The Incarnation teaches
us that it’s up to us to bring God’s mercy
home.
(Pankratz is a marriage and family therapist at Catholic
Charities, Milwaukee regional office.) |
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