Editorial July 8, 1991 Issue

Children: the world's most valuable resource

Ann Kenrick

Recently a friend gave me a book called We, the Children, published in cooperation with UNICEF. It is a collection of colorful photographs of children from every continent around the globe. Each picture tells a story and shows the immense diversity of children's education, environment, and cultural life. Through these remarkable photographs we get a peek into the collective childhood experience, seeing something of the joys and triumphs of children as well as their struggles and hurt.

Pictures like these remind us that children are the world's most valuable resource. Resilience, spontaneity, affection, and innocence are natural to children. And they generally possess acute observation and joy in learning as well. All of us actually possess these qualities. True, they sometimes get buried as the responsibilities of adult life crowd in on us; yet essentially they remain and will be recaptured as we cherish the childlike in ourselves.

Finding our own childlike qualities is essential if we are to relate intelligently to children and foster their well-being more intuitively and effectively. When we see the sad circumstances of so many of the world's children, we take this responsibility more urgently.

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