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Who are we to judge?

What happened to that poor hobo lying there on the pavement? What went wrong in his life? Maybe he was just like you and me with dreams in his heart and brilliant ideas in his mind. Surely he also had wonderful flights of fancy about how he would see himself one day. What happened to drive those dreams out of his heart and mind? Or maybe it’s still there, and that is why he is lying there drugged or drunk. Like an old torn up doll, discarded on the rubbish without even a second thought. 

Do you know that man with the red swollen eyes who is staring out in front of him into nothingness? Lying there with his dirty stinking clothes in the way of decent folks on their way to work or their fancy houses. Do you also shudder when he reaches out his dirty broken hands to beg for money or food?  Do you think he doesn't see how much you despise him when you turn away from him in disgust? Don’t you think he hurts when you kick his feet out of your way, or curse him for his uselessness?

Maybe he is too lazy to work, or he doesn't see any reason in living any more. Could be he just struggles along every day until death comes to fetch him and release him from this pain of being alive, because he doesn't have the guts to kill himself? Or maybe that is what he is doing right now, drinking himself to death slowly but surely. Dreaming in oblivion of all he had and lost or never even had.

Does he have a family somewhere worrying about him? Or is he all alone in this world? Without anyone’s love in his life he’s slumping there on the dirty sidewalk, alone and lost. He is suffocating the dreams in his heart with alcohol and drugs. 

How he must hurt every day, living a life of no consequence. How painful it must be that there is nobody to wake up for every day, nothing to make his heart sing in happiness. Can you imagine the destitution in his lonely heart?

Who are we to judge him?

Can we really prevent suicide?

Every year there is a worldwide Suicide Prevention Day. Can we ever prevent suicide? I really don't know. Statistics prove that someone who attempts suicide repeatedly eventually succeeds. Many who are serious about it don't give away any clues. I never realised my son Emile was in a place where he was planning his own death. Only after I lost him did I realise some of the things that pointed to it. At the time it didn’t seem significant I just thought he was growing up and taking responsibility for his life. 

Because I also believe we die on the day that was destined for us I don't know how a day of awareness can stop that from happening. I have worked hard over the years to spread awareness about it. People are still dying by their own hand and the statistics doesn’t show how many lives were saved because of creating awareness. In my opinion there should be awareness for the survivors of suicide or any kind of death for that matter.

In the event of losing a loved one you will know the unbearable road of grief you are facing. Suicide is particularly hard because you have all these questions you need answers to. As a parent you feel responsible for the death of a child by this means. We all feel we could have prevented it from happening. In retrospect there was nothing we could have done to save them. When someone decides to die they are secretive about it and you will only find evidence of their plans after they have gone.

Ask any parent who lost a child and most will tell you they had no idea this was going to happen. Even the ones whose children suffered from depression of any kind will tell you they never really believed their child would commit suicide. There can be many signs and you can fear for the life of them but in the end we are helpless to protect them against it. You also can't protect them from dying in a car accident, a terminal disease or being murdered.

We should create awareness of grief in the event of loss by suicide. Parents, partners and children should know what they will face if that unfortunate tragedy ever struck them. We should teach them about the utter pain, desolation, agony and a feeling of madness that you live every day for years to come. That deep void your loved one is going to leave in your life. It doesn't seem possible that it will happen to you but it does. And you are going to need all the support, love, strength and encouragement you can find.

People should be informed of how to support a friend or family member in the event of this happening. Don’t try to advise them on how to grieve, just be there and listen and give lots of hugs and love. Nothing in the world you can say will make it better for them. Just knowing they have someone to depend on when things get too much to handle will be help on its own.

Blessed Be and Namaste!

Playgroup for Capuchin pet monkeys in South Africa.

To find a playgroup where your toddlers will be safe and well looked after is already a challenging task and finding one for your Capuchin pet monkey is next to impossible. Poppie Botes, owner of the “Queen of the Jungle” playgroup for monkeys is an animal lover in Johannesburg, South Africa who realised the need for this when she acquired two Capuchin monkeys of her own three years ago. At the time she owned a home industry shop and had to take her two children, as she calls them, with her where they were kept in a little cage. “Other people who also had monkeys for pets brought them to play with my three year old Amy and Kerneels because they get very lonely and need to be with their own kind,” she informed me. She then decided to start a playgroup where people could bring their Capuchin monkeys to spend the day. Poppie now has five monkeys that visit her playgroup every day of which the youngest is Jesse at five months old.

She converted a huge veranda at her home into a cage that is connected to an ever bigger cage outside by way of a wire pipe. Owners of these delightful little animals drop them off in the morning on their way to work and pick them up again at night, just like working parents with toddlers would do. She cares for these monkeys with patience and love as if they are little kids. In the morning they are fed a bottle of milk formula as well as baby porridge and for lunch they have cooked chicken, eggs, a sandwich and lots of raw fruit and vegetables during the day. They also drink fruit juices and tea and once a week are treated with sweets and cookies, not too much because they are prone to diabetes. At birthdays they have a birthday party with party packs filled with lovely goodies that they open and eat themselves.

There is a jungle gym in the outside cage with swings and toys where play and keep themselves busy all day long as well as a small pool where they can cool off in summer. “My toddlers need lots of attention and stimulation and I make sure they are entertained during the day,” she said. The cages are cleaned every day and kept in immaculate condition, because when one becomes sick, all of them do. They are treated for illnesses the same way as humans because being a primate they are very similar to us. Like any other kids they love toys and play for hours with stuffed toys and cars and every afternoon take a nap with a favourite blanket or soft toy.

Every night Poppie’s babies bath themselves and are fed a bottle of milk formula and put to bed wearing a nappy. Their bed is a specially adapted baby cot that stands in her bedroom next to her bed. They play for a while or watch television before falling asleep. “Our friends and family know that Amy and Kerneels are part of our family and treat them accordingly.” 

Apart from them she also has an African Grey parrot, a Macaw parrot, four bearded dragons, four budgies, an iguana, five guinea pigs, five silky chickens, nine koi fishes, eight dogs and one cat!

Capuchin monkeys are extremely intelligent and can be taught to understand and execute instructions and commands. 

Helping Hands, an organization in the US train these amazing animals to assist people with spinal injuries in their everyday lives. Watch this video for more information.

To have a Capuchin monkey as a pet is a lifelong passion, not just a passing fancy, because they can live for up to 45 years, and need lots of attention love and patience and require hard work. They have to be fed certain foods every day and be kept in a big cage to move around and play. However it is worth the effort since they are loving and affectionate little creatures.

Don't you ever give up hope!

“His eyes were sunken like an old man’s eyes, a maggot crawled on his bottom lip and a roaring insane scream escaped my lips. This zombie like dead creature wasn't my beautiful son, there had to be a mistake. This nightmare wasn't going to end and I was slowly losing my mind because my son could not have hanged himself in a weeping willow tree, I couldn't bear the thought of that.”

For years I tried to get that image out of my mind, nothing I did could erase it from my memory. Suicide is considered murder in South Africa and that meant my son Emile’s body wasn't treated with dignity and respect and he started decomposing by the time we had his service. No matter what that inconsiderate action would do to me. I donated his organs and his eyes weren't replaced with prosthesis leaving him looking like a monster. The horrifying and mutilated person didn’t resemble my beautiful son.

When you reach that place when life doesn't seem worth living anymore and suicide feels like the only option left please think about what you are going to do to the people who love you more than you can ever realise. They are not going to be better off without you, in fact you are going to destroy not only the ones you want to punish but the innocent ones as well. No problem you are struggling with is worth taking your precious life over. You are so much more than that.

The moment you have taken that last fateful step of suicide, there is no turning back, there is no rewind button and you can't erase what you have done because death is permanent. A permanent solution to a temporary problem that will leave destruction and agony in its wake for the ones who love you more than you could ever imagine. Some problems only feels as if it will last forever when in fact it is only a fleeting part of your life. When I saw my son dead that morning I felt helpless because there was nothing I could do to save him. Death is the most final thing that can’t be rectified or changed. It truly is the end.

My son Emile felt that the demons plaguing him was too much to bear and on a lovely summer morning in February of 2006 we were called to the park where he hanged himself in a weeping willow tree the previous night. Not only did he take his own life but a huge part of mine as well. The anguish and hell I lived from then on almost destroyed me and for the longest time my sanity were slipping and it hanged precariously over a gaping cliff. I hated and loved him in equal measure and I struggled with a myriad of emotions all in one day. The whole situation was incomprehensible to me, it couldn't have happened, my son couldn't be dead. I soothed his pain while he was growing up, he was not only my son but my best friend. I felt that I completely failed him and I wasn't worthy to have been his mother.

I am not judging anyone for feeling desolate and contemplating suicide because I have been there countless times without thinking about the effect it will have on my family. Anything that happens in our lives never lasts forever even unbearable pain and suffering come to an end. Right after Emile took his own life he got a fantastic job offer but it was too late and he was gone forever. Everything started happening the way he wanted it but he couldn’t wait just a little longer.

I was lost in absolute madness with grief and I don't wish that state of existing for even my worst enemy. Families are torn apart because everyone feels guilt and regret about their relationship with the person who left in this way. Not only do they blame themselves but each other and most families can’t survive it.

You are wonderful and uniquely made and you deserve an amazing life and if you can hold on for a while longer and brave the storms of your life, you will be so happy you did. You are a warrior, a soldier and I implore you to take up your sword and fight your demons. There is no struggle in life that you can’t overcome because you mean the word to countless people. You are stronger than you can imagine my beautiful friend. Every person, including you are an important piece of the puzzle we call life. If you take your own life you remove an intricate and vital part of the meaning of life. Please don't give up and give in to the hateful siren that is suicide. Don't let it lure you into thinking it is the best thing to do, suicide is a vicious liar and will steal away your life with that last step into madness.

I want to see feelingly...

In the documentary Earthlings Joaquin Phoenix narrated Shakespeare with these words: King Lear; “How do you see the world?” and Gloucester, who was blind answers: “I see it feelingly”. These words mean so much to me because if only we could see the world feelingly instead of from our own preconceived ideas.  If we could feel with our hearts the pain others feel when we look at them, this planet would become the most compassionate and loving place in the Universe.

No person will be able to hurt another person or innocent animals because they will feel their pain and suffering. It would be impossible to act without remorse if we could experience the pain we inflict. Empathy would become a way of life not just a word not many people don't even understand. 

Then we would care for others deeply and not experience selfish and conceited emotions about everything around us. I think when we die we become those words, we see feelingly. We sense with deep compassion and unconditional love for all creatures in the Universe. Earthly emotions like want, need, hate, jealousy, pride, pain and all the other human sensations fall away from us like the body we leave behind.

Can you imagine how powerful and overwhelming our consciousness is when we become aware of the only the goodness of it all? To be able to feel only adoration for the creation and all that it is, no negative, just holiness consuming your very being. At a funeral of a friend the pastor said that he envies the person lying in the casket for seeing all that he so much wishes to see. I had to agree with him. I wish to experience that too.

However, I think that one day the world will be given that opportunity to see feelingly and know that we are here for a reason and we should love everything and everyone with our whole being. Because like Kahlil Gibran so rightly says we are in the heart of God, and God is only Love.

Blessed Be and Namaste!

I'll meet you in that field...

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about. Ideas, language, even the phrase "each other" doesn't make any sense. (Rumi)

We are so caught up in our preconceived ideas about what life is about that we lose sight of each other. Our differences make us act without compassion and love. Just because someone doesn't have your beliefs or think about life the way you do doesn't mean we can't love and accept each other unconditionally. There is so much hate in this world because of religion, politics, race, sexual orientation and many more inane mindsets. People kill each other because of these things and they don’t give it a second thought. They feel validated and honorable for doing it. How absurd the human mind is in thinking this way. We should put our differences aside and look at the person behind all the facades. The one who hurts the way we all do, who laughs at the same irony of life and who loves with the same intensity. There are so many similarities between all of us that we should rather embrace that and love each other for it. Just be part of humanity and learn to feel compassion and love for all human beings. It can't be that difficult to accomplish. It doesn't matter who or what we are because we are born the same way and one day will die the same. When death calls for you then you won't mind who sits beside you and hold your hand. At that instant you will see only the human kindness of someone who cares. Let us not wait for that day before we put aside all these things but do it now and love your fellow human being the way it was destined at the time of our creation. Let us all meet in that field. Blessed Be and Namaste!

You say animals have no feelings??

How anyone can believe animals have no feelings is entirely beyond my understanding. They may not be able to speak but their actions speak louder than any words they can ever voice.

They express love in ways we can only dream of. Many cases have been reported where dolphins have protected human beings against shark attacks and saved from certain drowning. Scientists even call them non-human persons because of the compassion they display. People who suffer from post-traumatic stress have been known to benefit from spending time with these loving mammals.

Swans mate for life and when one dies the other will remain alone forever. How many humans can say this? With the divorce rate so high in the world we can learn the true meaning of the term till death do us part from our feathered friends.

Rhinoceros are believed to be the firefighters of the wild. When encountering a field fire they promptly stomp it out. These wonderful animals are hunted and murdered for their horns that is grounded up and used to treat erectile dysfunction. Men may as well chew on their own fingernails for the help it will do.

The majestic elephant never forgets anything that happens in its life. They will carry a grudge or remember a kindness done to them for ever. They are so trusting to humans that they won’t budge out of an enclosure even though they have the strength to break down any man made structure.

We see many things on the net about unlikely friends and animals taking care of other species. This is only one of them.

If after reading this you still think they don’t deserve our care and protection I have no hope left for you.

Blessed Be and Namaste all living creatures that populate our beautiful earth!!

If you are contemplating suicide please read this first...

Suicides are increasing and it makes me feel so heartbroken and helpless reading and hearing about it. Before you take that last fateful and irrevocable step please read this first. I lost my son to suicide a few years ago and it drowned me in the most desolate depair.  Many people suffer from depression, or they are just hurting so bad because of things that destroyed their lives, and never talk about it.

My son was very quiet for the last month of his life but I never presumed there was anything wrong with him. To see him lying dead under the tree was the biggest shock of my life. It left me insane with pain for years afterwards. When you consider suicide you don’t realise the destruction it is going to leave behind and your loved ones who will have to try and pick up the broken pieces that will never fit again. I am sure if he knew how his act was going to break me he would never have done it.

There are people in your life who loves you and their lives are going to be destroyed beyond repair if you take your own life. Don’t sit alone with your hurting heart and dream about suicide. It is not the answer to your problems. Go and talk to someone about your turmoil and suffering. There are organisations who are open 24 hours to be there for you and give you advice and help you through your struggles. Please I implore you, don’t take that step that will plunge your loved in utter despair.

Don’t worry about what people may say if you are depressed, you are not insane it is an illness, they don’t count when you are in need of serious help. Something that looks like the end of the road for you today, will look like nothing at all in a day or month’s time. If you feel suicide will be the only solution, first talk to someone about it. Talk to your family or a therapist, pastor, psychologist or other professional people who are equipped to handle this, but please think carefully before you do something that can never be taken back or repaired.  I hope this will give you food for thought, your life is worth more than you think.

"Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem."

Blessed Be and Namaste!

My love... Lost...

I loved you

Absolutely and completely

You owned all of me

I gave myself to you

My deepest love

Adoration

My vulnerable trust

I belonged to you

My heart my soul my body

Only yours

You were all I thought about

Night and day

Under the full moon

You possessed me

In the bright rays of the sun

I followed you

But that was not enough for you

It was trampled over

Without a second thought.

Vengeance became

My sole purpose

Punishment

My only wish

To destroy you

Murder your soul

Break you slowly

Till there was nothing left

Of the man I worshipped

I became to despise

The mere thought you

I needed to see you

Hurt more than

You ever imagined

Every word

Every action

Became calculated

Heartless

Merciless

Evil

You could never

Survive it

And for that…

I am deeply sad

The Liebster Blog Award

The Liebster Blog Award is a way for bloggers to highlight Blog's and Bloggers that have small followings but deserve acknowledgement for their hard work, excellence and contribution to the world of Blogging. I was honoured to be nominated by Francine Hirst and Sho Nique and others who I can’t remember now. Please forgive me my mind isn't always present.

Here are the nomination rules:

1. List eleven random facts about yourself.

2. Nominate eleven bloggers for the Liebster Blog Award.

3. Notify the bloggers.

4. Ask eleven questions the bloggers must answer upon receiving the award.

5. Answer the eleven questions you were asked when you were nominated.

6. Link back to the person who nominated you.

 My answers to the questions Francine Hirst asked.

Do your family members read the stories and/or poems you write?

My son who died was the only member of my family who read my stuff. He was my steadfast fan and I am sure he still is.

Where would you like to holiday next?

Jamaica is foremost on my list of must holiday. I want to visit Bob Marley’s grave and smoke a long joint on his amazing life.

Who is your hero? (real or fictional)

Without a doubt Kahlil Gibran. He was a philosopher in the 1800’s and his work inspires me to live every moment of my life with awe.

What’s the first thing you do in the morning (besides peeing)?

I drink a huge glass of water. To be honest I am crazy about water and I eat ice all the time. Sometimes I will have a cup of coffee but more than one makes me feel giddy.

What is your nickname (if you have one)?

My mom calls me Rienkie when she feels loving towards me. Other than that everyone calls me by my name.

Do you wash your own car?

Dear lord no!! If it becomes too dirty and people start looking at me funny I take it to the carwash.

What was the last movie you watched that made you laugh till you cried?

Up in Smoke with Cheech and Chong. They are absolutely hilarious.

Where do you get your inspiration from for writing?

Depression plays a huge part in my inspiration. The struggle through it and the triumphant overcoming of that deep darkness fills my mind with words that needs to be heard. This beautiful gift of life is the most profound inspiration.  

Do you watch the Olympic Games?

I enjoy watching gymnastics and unusual dangerous sport.

Does the title of a story or poem come to you straight away?

Initial words that pop in my head becomes a story on its own. Sleepless nights with words flying around in the dark becomes a story or a poem.

Do you smile and/or say hi to strangers you pass on the street?

I can’t help myself smiling at people and starting a conversation with anyone I encounter. I have met the most amazing people on the street. Most humans need love and understanding, no matter who they are or where they come from.

11 facts about me you may not know.

      I am terrified of the dark. However, when I worked as a studio photographer the complete darkness when printing colour photos didn’t make me feel anxious.

   

2   The sun, mints and pepper makes me sneeze uncontrollably.

      My father was 21 years older than my mother. They met when she was 14 and he was 36. Almost a kind of Lolita story. I always loved telling people this to see their reaction of disbelief.

4    I never had friends as a child and my mother hired little girls to play with me because I worried her. They always ended up going home and thankfully after a few tries she gave up. I preferred living in my own dream world than the company of others. To a degree this is still true.

5   I have precognitive dreams about things I have no way of knowing. I dreamed about my death in a car accident, my son’s suicide and my husband’s death. On several occasions I dreamed about situations in friend’s lives that actually happened without my prior knowledge.

    Speed is one of the things in life that makes me absolutely wild. The faster and more dangerous the better. It gives me a feeling of being completely alive.

7 A crazy jealous boyfriend I had when I was 17 turned a day at the races into a riot when he beat up a guy who came on to me. The whole thing became so insane that the police dumped teargas over the whole area to disperse the crowd.

    I learned to drive when I was 12 years old because my father believed we should all know our way around in a car on the small farms.

9  I was born with the umbilical cord wrapped twice around my neck and the midwife had a struggle to get me to breathe. Made me wonder if I was too scared to be born knowing everything that would happen to me in life.

    I have to finish everything on my plate at the same time.

1  My son died by suicide and that changed the course of my life path dramatically. It changed me from being a selfish person into someone with deep compassion for humanity.

11 questions for the bloggers I nominated.

11.    If reincarnation is true who do you think you were in a previous life?

22.   What do you fear most about life?

33.   If you could change your name what would it be and why?

44.   One secret about you nobody knows.

55.   If you could go back in time to change the course of life where would you go?

66.   Have you ever wanted to be the opposite sex for one day and what would you do if you could?

77.   Do you prefer water (ocean and lakes) or mountains?

88.   Have you ever stolen something and what was it?

99.   Would you tell a lie to pacify someone?

 10.   What makes you angry?

111.   One word you think describes you.

My list of nominees for this award.

http://dogbrindlebarks.blogspot.ca/ Michael Estey.

http://ajwrites57.blogspot.com/ A Long.

http://livingwithmydrugabusingteenager.blogspot.com/  Susan Mansfield.

http://squidmcfinnigan.blogspot.ie/ Squid Mc Finnigan.

http://mabarrjournal.blogspot.com/ M A Barr.

http://shosstuff.blogspot.com/ Sho Nique.

http://www.katyamills.com/ Katya Mills.

http://lightsshineon.blogspot.com/ Dallas Adams.

http://souljourneyz.blogspot.com/  Blaringly Blunt.

http://www.glendonperkins.com/ Glendon Perkins.

http://africolonialstories.wordpress.com/ Jo Robinson.

http://frolicatfrans.blogspot.com/2013/11/liebster-blog-award.html

Thank you Fran, this was fun and it took a million years to complete!

Astronauts' spiritual accounts...

I think to travel in outer space and the earth looks like a little thumbprint you can't help but be in awe of our creation. I did a little digging on the internet to find out what astronauts think of God and life now that they had this opportunity to experience the vastness of the universe and what an impact it made on them. To be an astronaut you have to study science and most of us know scientist don't readily believe in God.

Russell Schweickart went to outer space in March of 1969. The word he used to describe the emotions I think is just so apt. “From where you see it, the thing is a whole, the earth is a whole, and it's so beautiful. You wish you could take a person in each hand, one from each side in the various conflicts, and say, "Look. Look at it from this perspective. Look at that. What's important?" If you have seen the magnitude of creation you can’t help but feel different about it. And you realize that on that small spot, that little blue and white thing, is everything that means anything to you - all love, tears, joy, games, all of it on that little spot out there that you can cover with your thumb.

And you realize from that perspective that you've changed, that there's something new there, that the relationship is no longer what it was. That's something new. And when you come back there's a difference in that world now. There's a difference in that relationship between you and that planet, and you and all those other forms of life on that planet, because you've had that kind of experience. It's a difference and it's so precious.

Archibald Macleish wrote that somehow things rather suddenly have changed, and we no longer see ourselves in the same way that we saw ourselves before. We see "the Earth now as it truly is, bright and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats," and "men and women as riders on the Earth together, on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold, brothers and sisters who know now that they are truly brothers and sisters."

Frank Borman was commander of the first space crew to travel beyond the Earth's orbit. Looking down on the earth from 250,000 miles away, Borman radioed back a message, quoting Genesis 1: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." As he later explained, "I had an enormous feeling that there had to be a power greater than any of us—that there was a God, that there was indeed a beginning."

 James Irwin, who walked on the moon in 1971, later became an evangelical minister. He often described the lunar mission as a revelation. In his words, "I felt the power of God as I'd never felt it before." "The Earth reminded us of a Christmas tree ornament hanging in the blackness of space. As we got farther and farther away, it diminished in size. Finally, it shrank to the size of a marble, the most beautiful you can imagine, that beautiful, warm, living object looked so fragile, so delicate, that if you touched it with a finger it would crumble and fall apart … seeing this has to change a man." 

Astronaut Gene Cernan, who made the last moon landing in 1972, said he became a believer in the idea of a greater power after travelling to outer space. "I felt that the world was just too beautiful to have happened by accident. There has to be something bigger than you and bigger than me. "And I mean this in a spiritual sense, not a religious sense. There has to be a creator of the universe who stands above the religions that we ourselves create to govern our lives."

Alan Bean, the Apollo 12 moonwalker who later became a full-time painter, said the moon missions gave the astronauts the courage to live their lives the way they'd always wanted to live them. "I remember thinking in lunar orbit, that if I got back from this, I was going to live my life differently, in that I was going to try to live it like I want to live it, mostly it made me have a lot of courage to do what I wanted to do and be happy about it. That’s one thing that really allowed me to be an artist. I probably wouldn't have had the courage to be an artist. It doesn't change you, it reveals who you are," he said.

Edgar Mitchell said there was a vague feeling that something was different. That my life had gotten very disturbing, very distressing at a subconscious level. What I do remember is the awesome experience [on the trip back from the moon] of recognizing the universe was not simply random happenstance. That there was something more operating than just chance and in 1974 he said that he has assiduously spent the last fifteen years figuring out what was true."

Blessed Be and Namaste, we are fortunate to have this human experience and should make the absolute best of it!!

Children's rights!

There is always a lot of talk about children’s rights all over the world but does everyone really know the rights children have?

Every child has the right to a name and a nationality from birth.  They also have the right to family or parental care, or to appropriate alternative care when removed from the family environment.  How many children are not in unhealthy environments worse than their family home? Like foster homes where they only take the kids for an extra income. Or in places of safety that is not safe at all.

In the case of divorce children has the right to decide in whose care they want to be placed. They can't be forced to live with any parent if they don’t wish. They are also entitled to basic nutrition, shelter, health care services and social services. Be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse or degradation. We read every day about this kind of abuse against children and not many know they have rights that protect them.

They have freedom of speech, thought and choice to make their own decisions. This means the right to be given the opportunity to say what they feel and think. How many parents don’t allow children to speak their mind and force them to just accept anything that is said to them?

Children have the right to privacy, and not have that privacy impinged on by the whim of the parents or other adults. They can decide what religion or not they want to practise. We have no right to force our beliefs on them.

They cannot be used in armed conflict or any other situation where their lives are placed in danger. How many African countries don't use innocent children in wars?

Children have the right to be educated about sex and health issues concerning the practise of sex.

Corporal punishment is against the law and neither parents nor educators have the right to discipline them in this way.

In all these cases the child has the right to have a legal practitioner assigned to the child by the state, and at state expense, in civil proceedings affecting the child, if substantial injustice would otherwise result; and not be used directly in armed conflict, and to be protected in times of armed conflict.

These are just some of the rights children have, there are loads of other rights that I didn't write about here. It will take more than just one post to discuss more of it. These are just the basic rights of children and many people don't even know this.

Blessed Be and Namaste!