Think Twice

This is a common sight lately. Only in some cases, the babies are found cold and lifeless, not crying and squirming like this one.

While I have no solutions to the issue of child abandonment, I do have a few observations to make. For one thing, whenever there are pictures of abandoned babies, there will be comments from people saying "Oh how cute this baby is" or "just adorable!".

I doubt they would say the same thing of these babies if they (the babies) weren't in such a tragic situation. It's very likely that these babies, born out of wedlock (as we assume most are), would receive condemnation and be stigmatized for the rest of their lives simply for being born to parents who didn't know better. Society regards them with disgust and prejudice and yet, when an illegitimate child is disowned, we claim how beautiful they are.

I have only one word for this. Hint : It has 9 letters and starts with an H.

When one comes across a young single mother, whose child bears no name of a father, one would quickly (and probably rightfully) assume the child is illegitimate and the look on one's face would change and the neighborhood where this young mother lives would be filled with gossip and slander.

It's a no-win situation for a young girl pregnant out of wedlock. She's damned by society whether she keeps the child or not.

Though it is a terrible thing to happen, to be pregnant out of wedlock, one can't drop the entire weight of blame on the young girl. It's not just the father of the baby who is obviously at fault but aren't people also shaped by the environment they live in? There so many factors contributing to what happened but all we do is condemn the mother and baby.

While by no means am I saying that the act of abandoning babies (and sometimes even killing it) is justified, we have to think that one of the reasons the mother does so is because she is afraid of the perception of society. Yes, one must be brave enough to accept the consequences of one's actions but not everyone can be that courageous. Further more, the parents of these unfortunate children are more likely to be teenagers. They were stupid enough to get knocked up in the first place, it would take a whole lot of sudden wisdom for them to decide to be mature and do the right thing.

I may not have any answers but I can say one thing, though : Leave judgment to God.

It doesn't matter if someone has 10 illegitimate children or that they're all from different fathers, we aren't doing anyone any favors by being scornful and rubbing salt onto wounds. Sometimes, we are so insistent that being nice means being encouraging, we forget that these people are just humans and that it is not our place to judge.

Instead of being all judgmental and negative, I think it would be better for everyone if we just muttered a prayer under our breath to ease the lives of those who are unfortunate and for those who sin to repent and return to the right path.

I am by no means an angel but I do think twice about criticizing others' mistakes that has nothing to do with me.

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle - Plato