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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 Continued on page 11 Continued from page 1 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.