Watching the unfolding drama of the octuplets recently born to a woman who doesn’t seem to understand what she’s done is difficult. She appears to need protection from herself. I wish we lived in a society where people who are compassionate, well-connected, wise in the ways of the world, and capable of righting a situation that, without intervention, will only get worse could step in. It’s apparent that the tiny babies are in need of help, and lots of love and care is a good start. This country has so many who have much to give. How will the babies thrive without their help? I know this can be said about many babies in the world.
I felt the same way last week when I watched the Diane Sawyer Special: A Hidden America, Children of the Mountains. It’s about families who live deep in the Appalachia Mountains – about their lack of nurturing, lack of education, lack of community, lack of hope, lack of parental guidance, lack of nutritious foods. Most of the parents of these children are addicted to alcohol or prescription drugs. Jobs are few, and most men work in the coal mines. Nothing changes there; it’s been this way for many generations. Their homes are surrounded by garbage. A doctor from India said it’s worse deep in Appalachia country than in some of the poorest places of India.
Some doctors and nurses are changing the lives of many children in a huge way. The movie SMILE PINKI www.thesmiletrain.org tells of kind-hearted doctors who instinctively know how to help others. In India where every year 35,000 children are born with clefts, they’re out searching for these children whose parents are poor and unable to help their children who are generally ostracized from their communities. The Smile Train is there to change all that, and that’s something to smile about. Wouldn’t it be a different world if every child born could be swaddled in love and care. Yes, what if.
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