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C-BERSS EX-PRESS
December 2001
Issue 4, Vol 4
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All Newsletters : December 2001 : Holding On To Our Humanity
Holding On To Our Humanity
A Christmas Message from C-BERSS Chairperson, Maria Harries.
Christmas is traditionally a time when we open our hearts and our homes in a shared celebration of all the qualities that make our lives most worthwhile. But Christmas also offers a time for reflection and appreciation, both of the gifts we have in our lives and for those we may receive. As we offer messages of goodwill and the hope for joy and peace in the lives of those we love, perhaps we may also reflect on the personal peace that exists, or that we seek, in our own lives. Perhaps we may also appreciate the peace that exists in the country in which we live, while those in so many other countries face a daily barrage of war and hostility.
Just as the traditions of friendship, goodwill and generosity at Christmas have their origins in an event that occurred more than 2000 years ago, so too do the wars and hostilities occurring in so many countries around the world today have their origins in events that have long since past.
This is how history is created… the stories we share, and pass on, from generation to generation until they become entrenched into the collective story of our own culture.
Lessons from the Past
It is often said that those who do not learn from the lessons of the past are destined to repeat them. And so, especially at this time in our history, there is an imperative to ask, what are the lessons of the past for us, as people, as a country, and a culture, and, in the context of this newsletter at least, what, are the lessons for us all in relation to the child migration and child care practices of the past?
For those whose lives have been touched by, or were party to such policies and practices, hopefully we have learnt that ALL children need love, a sense of their own special-ness and a continuity with their history if they are to be able to grow into their full human potential as mature, caring and compassionate people… people who are then able to pass on these same gifts to the children they may one day bear. Hopefully we have also learnt that the policies of the past, which supported the uprooting of children from their family and cultural connections were not only wrong, but were also a major contributor to longer term personal, family and social problems that live on to this day.
These policies were not developed out of malicious intent. The people who formulated them did not set out to cause the damage that ensued. But they were made possible because, at that time in our history, the beliefs held by policy makers made it possible to discount the basic human needs of children, many of whom were at the time living in child care institutions in their country of origin. For convenience they were grouped together, labeled as socially disadvantaged, and transported to far distant shores where the issue of their needs, care and support would become the responsibility of some other country. Some were sent away from their homes within their own country.
Holding on to Our Humanity
Throughout history, atrocities have been committed against many people and against many groups of people. The common element that enables the denial of basic human needs is the de-humanisation of those people who are the subject (or more commonly the object) of that policy which provided authorization for such practices to be implemented.
When one group of children, or people, or a race of people is de-humanised, it doesn’t take long before others are also caught in the same net.
Over the latter part of 2001 we have witnessed many examples of the de-humanisation of people who are in desperate need.
At times of insecurity and uncertainty, it is common for people to tend to focus inwards, battening down the hatches, as they seek to protect their own, while others are expected to fend similarly for themselves.
However, if the lessons of the past have taught us anything, it is that the de-humanisation of children, individuals, and groups of people is likely to bring greater problems in the longer term, to our very great cost as individuals, families, societies and increasingly as a world community.
I return to my introductory remarks. The tradition of Christmas celebrates joy, peace and goodwill. For those who have experienced the consequences of such qualities being lacking, the need to promote and defend these qualities within our bigger human family, now as much as ever before, is especially pressing.
Maria Harries
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