OPINION

Who doesn’t love children?

Who doesn’t love children?

Who doesn’t love children? In which heart, in which culture do we not find the instinct for parents to care for their offspring with tenderness, hope and self-sacrifice?

We know that the future of a family, of a nation, of our species itself, depends on the birth and successful upbringing and education of society’s young. When we speak of the children of others, even of our enemies, we declare pompously that they are innocent of the deeds of their ancestors. It is easy to say, then, that we all love children. In words.

From Troy to Ukraine, though, we know that in war the murder of children is not only “unavoidable,” it is also good policy, sparing us future trouble. In society’s more primitive corners, people believe that if they accuse others of crimes this highlights their own superiority. In other words, if I claim that you abuse children, that you hang out with rapists, pederasts, etc, then I, by definition, am good.

However, the supporters of the Q-Anon conspiracy did not suddenly become great people because they claim that a satanic pederast ring is running the United States. In Greece, from coffee shops to the highest echelons of politics, many believe that the more vulgar their accusations against their rivals, the more they confirm their own superiority, their “moral advantage.” 

Love for children, though, is shown not by words but by deeds. Love means to protect your children from their weaknesses (for fizzy drinks, for example) and from your own weaknesses which make their life difficult. Love means providing the education and inspiring the virtues that will help them hold their own against the best in the world. Love means working towards a society in which people want to have children and can do so, where the young will not seek their fortune beyond our borders. Love for children does not equate with the debt and the climate crisis that will burden future generations. 

Those who accuse others, who try to flatter the young, should ask themselves first whether they themselves love children.

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