“Tender Age” centers. The euphemism for detainment facilities for babies and small children separated from their parents by our government. Yes, the government that shakes its head in despair over the practice while steely insisting it will continue until 45 has his wall. Try as I might to think of this as just another of our country’s new norms under this administration, I can’t. What mother can? What father can? What grandparent, aunt, uncle, sibling, godparent, cousin can? Anyone who has or had any relationship with children can hardly sit silently by at the reporting and images of the tents and cages and warehouses in which these children, whose numbers grow daily, are being interred. Yesterday, I returned my attention to James Cone’s challenging book, God of the Oppressed. It’s not easy reading because it confronts us with the truth of who Jesus championed during His earthly ministry. He sought and ministered to the “least, the lost and the last.” And as I’ve referenced before, He was clear in His message regarding the welfare of children. Go back to Matthew 18: 1-6. Anyone who thinks this experience of being separated from their moms and dads and placed in these facilities will not negatively impact these children’s development is sadly mistaken. As I write, these children’s’ personalities are being altered; emotions are being shaped by this ungodly policy. Woe to those responsible for authoring this harm to God’s most vulnerable – the children, “the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Beverly KND Clopton writes nonfiction primarily from a Christian perspective. The author of six published devotional books, she also writes commentary regarding current societal issues that impact those who strive to live "in" the world without being "of" the world.