Detained Migrant Children: The Fight For Humanity

This is not about politics. It’s not about immigration.

It’s about our future.

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order ending migrant family separation. I hope this is a step in the right direction. But the fate of many thousands of children detained separately from their parents remains unclear, and we need to continue to fight for a better humanity.

You can see the footage of detained children on the US border here 

As I sit in my comfortable home with my two healthy, beautiful children, and all the things some people can’t even fathom – clothing, food, water, warmth – my heart breaks for children around the world, whose own little worlds are darkened by reasons they didn’t choose, decisions they didn’t make.

Those of us blessed enough to have a roof over our heads, safe in the knowledge that our children are healthy, loved and cared for often ask ourselves: How are we so lucky? Why did we win this lottery of a lifetime?

In our world, innocent children are constantly subjected to deeply traumatic experiences. Far too often, children are treated as an afterthought, as an accessory to the actions of adults. Instead of a precious part of our present, and a vital part of our future.

The children of the world are all our children, because these children are our future. This is not us and them. This is us. Humanity. They will inherit our world one day. They will be responsible for its well being.

If children are carelessly exposed to irreversible levels of physical and psychological harm, if they are not taught by example to be loving, tender caretakers, we are condemning ourselves, our world, our humanity to certain doom.

It would be easy for me to sit here and blame politicians, irresponsible parents… because that’s what everyone else is doing. But what good is it to cast blame? People already spend enough time blaming each other, instead of banding together to find a solution. We don’t need any more blame. We need action.

So what’s to be done?

I know what I can do. What I should do, as a parent who’s won the lottery.

I can teach love.

I can teach my children compassion. I can teach them that the world is not us in this house, and them outside it. The world is everyone, and we are a part of it. And we can change it.

I will teach my children to respect humanity. I will teach them to understand the gifts they’ve been given. Security. Stability. Support. And that these gifts give them great power in the world to help others.

I will teach them not to blame, but to take action for positive change.

When we are gone, all that remains are our children. The future of our world is in their hands.

The future of humanity depends on their ability to understand kindness, tolerance, respect. Once we depart, it’s on them. Until then, we are obligated as parents to help them find the way to a better world.

To teach our own children may only seem like a miniscule action on the global stage, a humble gesture. But if we can join together in small actions, we can create a profound statement. A louder voice. And with a voice bellowing love and compassion instead of whispering blame, we can show all children that the world is listening to their voices, hears their cries, and wants to help in whatever small way we can.