Harold Keller / L’Observateur / August 26, 2000

The Bible says that we have to become like little children to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I have 15 grandchildren and every morning I pray thattheir Heavenly Father will protect them from all sickness, accidents and impurities. In today’s world, our children need protection from society andfrom each other.

On Aug. 13, in Blythe, Calif., a little 3-year-old boy named Damion Stifflerwas killed. No, it was not an accident. It was what society calls murder.The accused murderers were his sister, age 6, and her friend, age 5.

According to investigators, the two girls shared how they pushed his face into a muddy puddle in their grandmother’s yard and tried to hold him down. Damion was able to wiggle free. One of the girls ran back to thehouse and came out with a pillow. They put the pillow over Damion’s face.One girl straddled the boy while the other sat on the pillow until he stopped struggling. Little Damion died.The question is: Is it a crime when a 5- and 6-year-old suffocate a 3-year old? The district attorney says that he will not prosecute the accused girls.

Is this just a remote tragedy that happened miles away? The alarming fact is that our children are being murdered, raped and abused in all parts of the country.

In the news this week, a 12-year-old in Reserve was booked with aggravated assault and indecent behavior with two juveniles who were his neighbors. The alleged victims were age 9 and 12. One of the girls wasraped. He held a knife to the throat of the other victim as he threatenedher.

Another report out of Slidell accused a mother of using her 11-year-old daughter to perform sexual acts in front of a camera that could be linked to the Internet. The report stated that the mother had been training herdaughter to perform sexual acts and to expose herself on the Internet. Themother is also accused of providing her daughter with drugs and alcohol to lessen the child’s inhibitions when performing on camera.

A sick society? You decide. The victims are easily identified. Are theaccused, if convicted, the only guilty ones? The answer is no. We all haveto take a little part of the blame for allowing our society to sink to one of the lowest levels of morality of any time. People are only a reflection ofthe society in which they live.

HAROLD KELLER writes this column as part of his affiliation with the Get High on Life religious motivational group.

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