End of the Innocence

Yesterday, I had to talk to two little girls about a topic that little girls shouldn’t know about.  It was heartbreaking.

I was reminded again that our world is not clean.  It’s not neat.  It’s not pretty.  Children are sometimes exposed to material that is labeled ‘adult’ when it’s not even fit for grown-ups.

I cuddled a little girl’s tiny frame and listened to her sobs.  She’d seen something that she shouldn’t have.  She knew it was wrong, but the images were still in her head.   They wouldn’t go away.  And as her innocent mind tried to comprehend what she’d seen, her lip quivered.  What had entered through the window of her eyes, bounced around in her mind, and seeped down into her heart — finally leapt out in her behavior.

I wanted to pull out a huge mind eraser (maybe the memory erasing light from ‘Men in Black’) and wipe away the bad things that she never should have seen.  Instead, I held her close and prayed with her.  She said she was sorry; I asked for help. I told her that she couldn’t change what happened, but she can change how she reacts from now on.

For this precious little one, the circumstances that started the chain of events were not her fault, but now they are her problem.

I’m reminded of the children’s song, that is so profound:

Be careful little eyes what you see.

Be careful little eyes what you see.

For the father up above is looking down in love,

O, be careful little eyes what you see.

Let us never forgot that what those little eyes see can forever change how they perceive their world.

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