Children Around World

A few days ago, we had the opportunity to hear "A Prayer for Children" again.

This poem fit very well to the experiences that have been shared on Neighbors Helping Neighbors over the past year.

From helping a community in a developing country reduce their risk from a disaster or helping a fellow neighbor, it is important to realize that others may not be as fortunate as others.

At the same time, realizing that we should not feel sorry for those that do not have the same tangible item, as they lead very happy lives within their means.

The following poem is really appropriate for any religion and can be found on multiple websites.

A Prayer for Children

We pray for children…
who put chocolate fingers everywhere,
who like to be tickled,
who stomp in puddles and ruin their new pants,
who sneak Popsicles before supper,
who erase holes in math workbooks,
who can never find their shoes.

And we pray for those
who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire,
who can’t bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers,
who never “counted potatoes,”
who are born in places where we wouldn’t be caught dead,
who never go to the circus,
who live in an X-rated world.

We pray for children
who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,
who sleep with the dog and bury goldfish,
who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money,
who cover themselves with Band-Aids and sing off-key,
who squeeze toothpaste all over the sink,
who slurp their soup.


And we pray for those
who never get dessert,
who have no safe blanket to drag behind them,
who watch their parents watch them die,
who can’t find any bread to steal,
who don’t have any rooms to clean up,
whose pictures aren’t on anybody’s dresser,
whose monsters are real.


We pray for children
who spend all their allowance before Tuesday,
who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food,
who like ghost stories,
who shove dirty clothes under the bed and never rinse out the tub,
who love visits from the tooth fairy,
who don’t like to be kissed in front of the school bus,
who squirm in church and scream in the phone,
whose tears we sometimes laugh at
and whose smiles can make us cry.


And we pray for those
whose nightmares come in the daytime,
who will eat anything,
who have never seen a dentist,
who aren’t spoiled by anybody,
who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep,
who live and move,
but have no being.

- Ina Hughes