Thursday, August 5, 2010

Don't Look the Other Way

"Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me." -- Psalm 27:10

Rarely a day goes by that I don't read in the newspaper or see on television that someone has abused another child. Sometimes it's a stranger but usually it seems to be an acquaintance or a family member. The very people who are supposed to protect the child, hurt the child.

I wonder how many people suspected something was going on. I wonder how many people told themselves it was none of their business. I wonder how many people were so wrapped up in their own lives that they couldn't or wouldn't take time to stick their nose into a child's life.

Many years ago I was working in a mall one Sunday afternoon. I could hear a child yelling. Soon a hysterical four-year-old was headed my way. He'd lost his parents. He was screaming and crying as he ran through the mall. Parents strolled nearby with their children. People glanced his way but kept going. No one tried to help the child.

I knelt down and held open my arms and he ran to me. A nearby store employee called security. People laughed at the boy's hysteria. His unconcerned parents said they'd merely been trying to teach him a lesson so he'd stay up with them next time. Yeah. Somehow I think they could have taught that lesson without traumatizing him.

I was most amazed at the lack of concern by anyone. Didn't they understand that anyone could have stopped that child, told him they would take him to his parents, then led him right out of the mall? I vowed then that I would never walk away from a child in trouble, no matter how busy I thought I was.

So why do we look away when it's up close and personal? It makes us uncomfortable to stand up for a child. We worry about retaliation. We think we must be wrong because they're a "good" family. Well, abuse happens in rich families and poor families. It happens in normal families down the street. It happens in white families, black families and hispanic families. It happens to people we know.

Sometimes the best thing -- and safest thing -- is to notify the police. They are specially trained to handle abuse cases. You don't even have to reveal who you are. Just remember it's better to be report abuse and be wrong than to not report it and be right.

The other thing we can do is become a safe haven for the child being abused. We can listen. We can offer support and compliments and time -- even when we think we don't have any. And, most importantly, we can tell that child about Jesus because Jesus is a refuge when no other refuge exists.

 Don't look the other way when you suspect someone is abusing a child. Jesus wouldn't stand silently on the sidelines. Why do we?