As I See It / September 2005

 

A Clear and Present Danger

If ever there was an idea whose time has come and gone, it is door to door solicitation by children. Whether it is a box of cookies, a can of candy or Christianity, children should not be wandering the neighborhood selling it.

The original concept of sending a naïve and utterly vulnerable sales force to the doors of strangers must not have seemed so bizarre when it was first implemented. There was a time when discussion of sexual predators was limited to adult whispers of the occasional ‘funny’ uncle. Newspapers were not filled with grim details of children who had been abducted and dismembered. Communities assumed all their community members were practicing the community values. Parents imagined everyone in the world was as committed to the safety and security of their children as they were. Children believed they were immune from evil because evil only happened somewhere else.

But there is no possible excuse for such reckless, dangerous disregard now. Weird and perverse people have begotten more weird and perverse people. Their exploits are cataloged in graphic, gory detail on prime time television and the daily newspaper.

What prize could possibly be worth exposing a child to such horrible possibilities? What field trip is worth risking death to go on? Who would allow degenerate hands on their child in exchange for a band uniform? And, why would anyone send a child out in God’s name to face unspeakable offense?

In defense of its citizens, local communities can publicize the names and addresses of sexual predators. That is important, helpful information. But, the even bigger danger is those who aren’t listed. People who prey on children know how to approach children and how to keep them quiet. One of the ways to keep children quiet is to kill them. There are parents who are grateful to get their child back, raped and beaten, but alive.

Loving parents cannot keep risking terrible consequences for such trivial reasons. Developing new methods of fundraising may require a little creativity but, there are many ways to sell that do not require a child going door to door in any neighborhood, even their own. Parents who insist their child buckle up, make their kids eat their vegetables and recite the dangers of smoking, are missing a big boat when they send their child out armed with an order form and a pencil.

Proselytizing pastors must find other messengers to spread the word. It seems a gross dereliction of duty to purposefully send young girls, eager to share God’s love, directly into the open hands and arms of strangers. Even accompanied by their young mothers or older sisters, little girls and young women are no match for a man with a warped mind -or a weapon.

And of course, it isn’t just girls at risk. Young boys are a target just as often. Predators of children are equal opportunity exploiters.

Parents prepare for the threat of overriding dangers like terrorism and unseen dangers like radon. They teach their children to avoid the predictable dangers like traffic and drugs. There are so many things that can endanger children over which parents have no control, it is amazing parents ever sleep at all.
But predators of children are a clear and ever present danger. We don’t know all their names. We don’t know their games. We don’t know how to fix them. But, at the very least, we need to stop sending children knocking on their doors.

Too many people who answer the door want more than a cookie.

 

 

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