On Children*

Whenever there are children asking for alms within the Metro, and I happen to be the one they ask from, I never give them money. Instead, I always find the effort to buy something instead of giving them money, like buying bread from a nearby bakery, biscuits from a nearby sari-sari store and others. Since I am one those who believe that all the proceeds of their alms would go to rampant syndicates anyway. 

But still, I find it absurd. 

Albeit being one with a temper, I never built on the premise on blaming these children's parents, since jobs nowadays are so hard to find. And assuming these children have come to that ultimatum of being used and to "work" for their families to have something to eat (not earn), their parents must have not finished schooling. Thus making it achieve a decent livelihood even more difficult. 

I was one of those who experienced being spat on by a child whom I have assumed to be under the influence of drugs. I could even smell the rugby from him and when I denied him, he spat on me. Of course I was infuriated, but it was a temporary anger that did not elevate into rage. After wiping the spit from my face, I thought that the child must have been too intoxicated from the fact that he was denied something. This is morally crushing especially for children at a young age, which is the reason why they tend to act impulsive towards another. 

Parents would be the first ones to receive the blame. But how could one possibly be a parent in times where his needs (proper education, jobs, healthcare) have not yet been met? This stems on the problem of illiteracy. I believe that the simple ability to read, speak, write, and count could translate into even more socially-relevant conducts like comprehension, expression of ones ideas, and to determine the math between the efforts he spends and the compensation he gets in return. That's why the overpopulation discourse is too dim of an argument because instead of inculcating the value of sex relations, the essence of a family, reproductive healthcare and the responsibility of parenthood, government is limited to stern exposure to grave consequences. Children would grow to be anarchic citizens and act upon things regardless of the consequences. Thus, we have the impoverished number of parents who had no choice but to live on the streets (if not in squatter's areas) and turn their uncontrolled birth rates into a commodity. The more children they had, the more they will be able to send to the streets, increasing the probability of gaining a larger amount of coins to go back to them as their meal for the day. 

Simple reprimand would be considered toxic for most. But through enlightenment and education, citizens would embrace values even more. Isn't this the very definition of civility?

Schools share the same burden as parents in terms of preparing the children for society. But given the situation where children are bereft of that feat due to their families' lack of income, they would prefer to work and actually contribute something to their own families. At an early age they express this as a means of social responsibility starting from the mot basic unit of society- the closest unit they could appreciate. Education is undeniably a privilege, and given that the current curriculum focuses on spending money on projects, presentations and all kinds of "outcomes," children would immediately drop from school. This is evident even in public schools, even in state universities. 

For most citizens, being a child is too much of a privilege. To actually compare the children in television commercials where they get to eat hot dogs everyday, is a socio-economic issue. To actually compare them to books with children having toys to play with and to use that as a means to learn how to share one's resources, street children are way out of that standard zone. 

We can't blame the delinquents for being delinquent because we have a whole roster of social institutions to interrogate: the school system, the church, the industry, and even government. Heck, even the innocent, straight-A students are already at risk not only of receiving blame, but of bullets to their chests and heads. We could all remember the tragedy of Kian delos Santos wrongfully slain by police personnel due to drug-related matters. Obello Bay-ao and Jhun Mark Reyes from Talaingod, Davao del Norte and North Cotabato respectively have not even been considered in this record of violence and murder against children because they were believed to be armed rebels. We have a whole generation of children waiting to fall victim under a corrupt malpractice of police and military operations.

And now, we have a bureaucracy to complete that trifecta of entities inutile towards  the situation of children. 

The state is so keen on solving crime, but ironically they are the ones making sure that crime and poverty remain rampant. Sending children to jail would not do this cause any better. The strongman president even had the gall to act all mighty against big-time syndicates who are indeed the root of drugs and human trafficking. But all he ever accomplished was to go after the minute-level street thugs (and even falsely accusing innocent civilians) instead of pursuing the enemy lines systematically. In the end, the trajectory of all state-sponsored attacks have not really reached their real, material enemies. Instead, civilians hitherto have been the ones receiving fire. 

We would expect en masse pools of children being wrongfully sent to jail, scarred by the mind-jarring restraints of metal bars and possibly exposed to an even more toxic environment. These children WILL get raped in the cellars. These children will be more open to abuse since they will not even be monitored by the media. Everything that happens in police interrogation rooms, evening-patrol cells and after-office hour experiences will be in the absolute control of potential and renowned child murderers, rapists, molesters, and other social monsters in uniform. 

Any sane parent would not want to send their 9 year-old child to jail. And no civil-oriented, law-abiding citizen would want other parents and children to experience this malevolent move by the House of Representatives. But it will happen. In these depressing times reality will dictate that these hell-like events will happen. Time, therefore, urges parents, teachers, lawmakers, students and other socially-responsible sectors to take this decisiveness back to their possession, and stand as the embodiment of the hearth, of those wanting their children to be in the serenity of their guidance. 

These are the events where the moral conscience is put to the test, and it will define whether you will spend the rest of your nights sleeping comfortably while most children are put in the cold cellars. Or not. 

As Kahlil Gibran would say to us, parents and aspiring parents alike:

You are the bows from which your children

as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the path of the infinite

And He bends you with His might

that His arrows may go swift and far

*the title is based on Kahlil Gibran's poem, "On Children."