(This article is part of an ongoing series showing adult obsession in waging “War Against Children” by Fr. Jerry Novotny, OMI.)
What would you do? Let’s say you are walking along the streets of a major city and you see a mother and child sitting on the sidewalk. The child looks very ill and is holding out a tin cup, desperately asking for help.
My Pro Life work has taken me to many poor countries in Asia. Children begging for money is one memory that will not go away. Young children around 7 or 10 years old carry babies around, day and night, begging tourists for money to buy some food for their babies. My very first encounter was in Sri Lanka on my way to a business hotel in Columbo. The taxi had stopped for a red light. Suddenly three children ranging, I estimated between 6 and 9 years old, were banging on the taxi window begging for money. I can still recall the sad look in their eyes as they held out their little hands. The driver shouted at them to go away and refused to open the window. As the taxi sped away, the driver tried to justify his actions by stating that the children are part of gangs who pocket most of the money.
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