THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 14, 1996 TAG: 9604140049
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Elizabeth Simpson
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
I spend a lot of time on my knees.
No, not praying, but trying to figure out why my children are crying. The only way to do that is to get down on their level and look at the world through their eyes.
Imagine a whole nation doing that.
It could happen at a Stand for Children Day, being planned for June 1 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.
The idea is to get a throng of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, educators and child advocates to march on Washington. To get down to kid-level. To dedicate ourselves and our nation to the next generation. To challenge lawmakers to think about children on every vote.
We don't need to look far to see the power of marching.
The civil rights marches of the '60s forced a nation to face the injustices of centuries. The Million Man March brought forth waves of African-American men who made a pledge to be better parents, husbands and mentors. Women who felt afraid alone have stood together courageously on Take Back the Night marches.
These marches do more than burn shoe leather. They inspire. They embolden. They make us commit ourselves to change the world in ways we never imagined.
The idea for the children's march came from Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund. She worries the national safety net is being dismantled at a time when children most need protecting.
We need only look in our own backyards to see examples of her fear and commit ourselves to march in children's honor.
We can march for Taylor Ricks, the 3-year-old Norfolk girl who looked out her window a few weeks ago for fireworks. And died from a stray bullet.
Fifteen children are killed by firearms every day in America.
We can march for Chenelle Foreman, a Suffolk 2-year-old who died last September of internal injuries. Her baby sitter told police she hit Chenelle because she wouldn't stop crying.
Every day in America, 8,493 children are reported abused or neglected; three a day die of abuse.
We can march for two North Carolina 15-year-olds, Kevin Hyde and Joshua Rogers, who committed suicide when they were stopped by a state trooper in a stolen car a week ago.
Six children commit suicide every day in America.
We can also march for every child who ever went to bed hungry, every child who felt afraid to walk to school, every child who doesn't have medical insurance.
We can march for our own children. Children who will go to school in portable classrooms, who spend more time away from their parents than we're comfortable with, who are growing up in a world that's more dangerous than the one where we spent our own childhoods.
This march is not just a soapbox for politicians to rail about welfare reform and Medicaid cutbacks, but an occasion to pledge ourselves to think at child-level when we make decisions at work, at home and in our neighborhoods.
Gov. Roy Romer of Colorado once said we should all vote as if an 8-year-old were standing next to us in the booth.
We should live each day of our lives the same way. MEMO: To find out more about Stand For Children call 1-800-233-1200. The
Planning Council will conduct a coordinating meeting for local groups
interested in marching Friday at 10 a.m. Call 627-3993 for more
information.
by CNB