Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, October 2, 2003
Commentary
W hen my oldest was a baby,
some parents spent a lot of
time and money trying to develop
their children into “super babies.”
Television shows featured babies
who weren’t old enough to walk
but could read flashcards. Parents
who wanted super babies were
encouraged to expose them to clas
sical music, fine art and great liter
ature at the earliest possible ages—
in some cases, before birth.
Something in me (the ugly side of
parental pride?) was tempted to try
to produce a super baby, but I resis
ted that impulse. Even so, I spent a
lot of time reading about the phases
of childhood and what to expect
with each new development. As a
stay-at-home mom, I saw Katie’s
well-being (and eventually that of
her younger siblings) as the pri
mary focus of my attention, so I
subscribed to parenting magazines
and paid close attention to advice
from the experts.
The expert advice I read at the
time was almost entirely centered
on children’s intellectual, social,
and physical development. Articles
revolved around learning, separa
tion anxiety, sleep difficulties,
Freedom...
Everyday Graces
“Hardwired
social interaction, and the like.
Rarely, if ever, did these experts
offer any advice or pay any atten
tion to a child’s spiritual develop
ment.
Fortunately, Jim and I were close
ly connected to our parish
community from the begin
ning of our marriage. As a
family, we’ve always
attended Mass together,
prayed together, and
developed intimate friend
ships with fellow parish
ioners of all generations.
Though most of the experts
failed to encourage or even
acknowledge it, providing children
with this connection to God and
others has now proven essential to
their well-being.
Sadly, while concerning them
selves with their children’s academ
ic, social and material needs, par
ents have too frequently ignored
their children’s profound need to
know and love God within a sup
portive family and faith communi
ty-
Decades later, after many chil
dren have suffered devastating
emotional consequences, the
to connect”
experts are beginning to take
notice. A major report “Hardwired
to Connect” was issued last month
by the Commission on Children at
Risk. According to a press release,
the report addresses the “currently
high numbers of children who
are suffering from emotion
al and behavior problems
such as depression, anxi
ety, attention deficit, con
duct disorders, and
thoughts of suicide.”
The report includes
frightening statistics:
“Scholars at the National
Research Council in 2002 estimat
ed that at least one of every four
adolescents in the U. S. is currently
at serious risk of not achieving pro
ductive adulthood. Twenty-one per
cent of U. S. children ages 9 to 17
have a diagnosable mental disorder
or addiction; 8 percent of high
school students suffer from clinical
depression, and about 20 percent of
students report seriously having
considered suicide in the past year.”
Recent scientific findings indicate
that children are “biologically hard
wired” with two profound needs—
the need for “enduring connections
Mary Hood Hart
Southern Cross, Page 5
to others” and the need for “spiritu
al and moral meaning.”
The Commission’s report speci
fies a way these two needs can be
met. It recommends “authoritative
communities.” It defines authorita
tive communities as “groups of
people who are committed to one
another over time and who exhibit
and are able to pass on what it
means to be a good person.”
It doesn’t take a Commission to
point out that “authoritative com
munities” can be provided by a sta
ble family and a church, and it’s
heartbreaking that so many U. S.
children lack one and, often, both.
The report addresses the break
down of the family: “In recent
years, authoritative communities
have gotten significantly weaker in
the United States. Consider the
family, for children, the first and
typically most important authorita
tive community. From the mid
1960s to the mid 1990s, U. S. fami
lies overall have gotten steadily
weaker. Today, more than half of
all children in the U. S. will spend
a significant part of their childhood
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pulled up, the crowd clapped. The travelers exit
ed carrying banners, some with “Jobs With
Justice” printed on them.
Shouts of “What you want?” were answered
with the exuberant response, “Justice.” It was
effective in revving up the crowd. Many spoke
with Spanish accents, and they were quick to
offer hugs and smiles.
Bishop J. Kevin Boland of the Savannah
Catholic Diocese and Scott Smith, director of the
Coastal Heritage Society, were among the speak
ers. Labor union representatives and a half-
dozen politicians were also on hand.
Bishop Boland offered the following invoca
tion:
“Loving God, bless all gathered here in the
cause of freedom. We are a nation of immi
grants—the immigrants of yesterday are the
strength of our nation today. We welcome these
new immigrants who will be the strength of our
nation tomorrow. I pray with you and for you as
an immigrant of forty-four years. I am grateful
for my citizenship. Lord, bless the ongoing
efforts of these new immigrants in their legiti
mate quest for legal status, to become citizens,
to be treated fairly and justly in the workplace,
to be reunited with their families to be treated
fairly under the law—the expectation of all peo
ple who live in this nation.”
“The immigrants of whom we speak are hard
working, pay their taxes, and greatly enhance the
economy and social diversity of this great
nation. Bless these freedom riders that the map
they draw will be one of justice, hope, and fair
ness, a map that recognizes the dignity of the
human person, that we are all God’s people.
Amen.”
The bishop quoted Emma Lazarus’ poem,
“New Colossus,” engraved on the base of the
Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your
poor / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe
free / The wretched refuse of your teeming shore
/ Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed, to me
/1 lift my lamp beside the Golden Door.” He
then contributed his own stanza: “Give me those
from South and East / A people yearning to work
and celebrate / Protect their family life and life
itself / With gifts of hope and Love / They seek
the lamp beside the Golden Door.”
Jamal Toure, a Coastal Heritage Society board
member, was there to show his support for
Hispanic immigrants. He spoke passionately
about how many are mistreated, but argued that
Haitians are treated worst of all.
“Many Americans have forgotten the Haitians
who fought here in Savannah during the Ame
rican Revolution and shed their blood here at the
Roundhouse,” he said, pointing to the ground
where a famous battle was fought in 1779.
“Yet when Haitians, unlike Cubans, seek free
dom by crossing the ocean, they are allowed to
drown,” Toure said. “If they do make it to Ame
rica, they are placed in detention and sent back.”
The modem riders patterned their journey after
the Freedom Rides of the 1960s, when blacks
brought attention to unjust treatment in employ
ment, housing, eateries and education.
Charlene Kennedy, a local union member,
shared a bit of her own family history. “I know
what it’s like for the Hispanics,” she said. “It
wasn’t that long ago that the Freedom Rides
were for blacks in the 1960s.
“I’m from Mississippi,” she said. “It was back
then that I drove all night long to get to Savan
nah, looking for a better life for me and my chil
dren.”
So far, these modem-day riders have met little
resistance, except for a few anxious moments in
southern Florida. Bus driver Rick Flores said the
Ku Klux Klan showed up during a stop in
Immokalee, Fla., a small farming community to
the southeast of Fort Myers. The group was later
identified as the South Florida Aryan Alliance.
“They stayed on their side of the street, and we
stayed on ours,” Flores said. “It began to rain
and washed them away. When they left, the rain
came out and we had a good time.”
Nearly 1,000 immigrant workers and their sup
porters have boarded buses in Seattle, Portland,
San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Min
neapolis, Chicago, Houston, Miami and Boston
for cross-country journeys that will take them to
Washington, D.C., on October 1 and 2, and New
York City in October also—as well as other
numerous stops along the way.