Why Do We (Claim to) Care about Children?

The significance of news reports seems amplified whenever children are involved.  When a man returns home from the war in Afghanistan or Iraq, his reunion with his wife is great, but his reunion with his children somehow seems even more special.  Often times, these father / child reunions are even surprises for the children–so special that they’re filmed and shown on the national news.

Likewise, when tragedy occurs, it seems even more tragic when the victims are children.  In the recent terrorist attack in Nice, France, news reports said that the attack killed 85 people and “ten of the dead were children.”  Why does it seem worse when children are killed?  Maybe because they’re particularly innocent and / or defenseless.  Also, when such tragedies occur, why do we tend to think that the younger the child, the worse the tragedy?  Perhaps because a younger child’s life is cut short by a greater number of years than an older one.

How ironic it is that, in the United States, we kill one million of our own children through abortion each year?  If we were to hear that some third world nation was doing this, we would consider it to be barbaric–similar to the ancient Babylonian cults when mothers cast their babies into the fires of their idol gods.

These children are completely innocent and defenseless.  Furthermore, they’re as young as they can be; i.e., we’re taking their every breath.  How can we claim to care about children?  Why do we say that we do?

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