Spirit of Ma'at July 2002, Editorial by Drunvalo: "Protect the Children"

It's being called the Silent Epidemic.

Nobody wants to talk about it. But child sexual abuse is a raging epidemic, both in the United States and throughout the world.

According to Laura Ahearn, founder of Parents for Megan's Law, "Victimization happens to one in four girls and one in seven boys." And these statistics, she says, may actually be higher for the boys, since they are more reluctant to talk about it (see Becoming Part of the Solution elsewhere in this issue).

We ask you to think about these numbers. They mean that your innocent little girl, whom you love and hold close to your heart, has one chance in four of being sexually molested or raped before she reaches adulthood. And the little boy you thought was more or less immune has one chance in seven.

The terrible effect that childhood abuse has on one's adult life is immeasurable. I live with a psychologist who finds that most of her cases involve sexual child abuse. I have talked with a vast number of other professionals who agree that sexual abuse of children is at epidemic levels.

It's not just about the Catholic Church

Sexual and physical abuse of children is a silent epidemic partly because people who are close to the subject don't want to talk about it. They feel embarrassed that it has happened to them or to their family. In fact, until recently, no one has even been doing anything significant to address the situation. Since the mid-nineties, a few groups have recognized the immensity of the problem and begun efforts to help, but until the true situation becomes known to the masses, reform will be a slow process.

However, in recent weeks our mass media have been relating to us the stories of children, many now in adulthood, who have been sexually molested by Catholic priests. And although the Catholic Church did not start this sexual abuse epidemic — it is but a reflection of what is transpiring all over the world — it is perhaps the Church that will now have the most influence in bringing this problem into the light of day.

For sexual abuse in the Church has been hidden, just as it is hidden when it happens in our homes. And now it is no longer a secret.

Now, we have to realize that this disease is not simply one of celibate priests. It goes far deeper than that, and is far more pervasive. The disease crosses religious, cultural, social, ethnic, and political borders. Those who prey upon innocent children are of all ages and sexes.

Exploitation of children

Little children come to us fresh from God. But most of the world does not look upon them with this realization. Instead — because children are weak and have no rights and cannot stand up for themselves — many people look upon them as "things," something to be used. People think that they can treat children any way they please and that there will be no consequences. No one will ever know.

The Silent Epidemic does not stop at sexual abuse. That is only the primary symptom of a disease that is more obvious and hits a little closer to home. Let me ask a few questions that may occur to you as you read the articles in this issue:

How do you feel knowing that over a million children are homeless in our world, having no food and no one to help them or even to care?

How do you feel knowing that American and foreign corporations use the labor of little children who are enslaved and forced to work for long hours under hideous conditions with little or no pay — that a huge proportion of the products we buy and use in our homes were created in this way?

How do you feel knowing that millions of children worldwide are forced to use drugs, forced to participate in pornography, made to perform abominable acts just to have some food and a place to sleep?

How do you feel about the physical and emotional abuse that little children are forced to endure in their own homes, within their own families?

The list goes on.

When will we, the adults, take responsibility for the children? When will we realize that they are not some "commodity" to be exploited, that their innocence and safety are more important to our present and our future than all the money, oil, or gold in the world?

What can we do?

As Americans learning that one in four little girls will be sexually molested before she grows up, can we possibly find this standard acceptable? Other than pretending it's not going on, refusing to think about it, how are we supposed to live with the knowledge of what is happening to millions of little children all over the world?

One thing we can do is to heal ourselves. Several of the articles in this issue are aimed at survivors of childhood trauma, to help with healing and provide resources. For if abuse has already occurred, the question is, "What now?"

But mainly what this magazine reveals is the truth of what is happening — the truth that where children are concerned, most of our world is a very sick place. We seek to create this awareness because the disease of child abuse thrives upon our very unwillingness to look at it or even think about it.

Just possibly, without even realizing it, we simply do not want to know. And yet in opening our own eyes and talking about this with others, we can at least assure that this epidemic is "silent" no more.

At the Spirit of Ma'at, we don't have the answers. But we recognize that change must begin somewhere. If we becoming willing to look at and admit the problem, if we can just begin to talk about solutions, perhaps we will find a way.

And just as enlightenment begins within, so do the changes that would be necessary to heal the ravages we reveal in this issue of our magazine. If we want a world were children are protected, respected, and safe — if we care about our very future — we must find that place of enlightenment within ourselves, and then give it to our children. They look to us for guidance. Where else can they look?

We're in the midst of a "war on terrorism." But where do terrorists come from? They begin as little, innocent children who were treated without love or respect, who were fed on a diet of convoluted intentions and evil.

There can never be peace in this world until our children are nurtured. We can never achieve peace within ourselves until we can hold the world's children close to our hearts in love and keep them safe.

In love and service,

Drunvalo