When I was a young child, we lived in a small town. Not far from my house was a vast tract of woodlands that extended for uncounted acres in every direction. One quiet day, a young child was lost in the woods, and the town mobilized to find her. Search parties were organized, volunteers gathered, and alarms were sounded. After many hours of searching by hundreds of people, the small girl was found huddled under a tree, thankfully unhurt.

The irony, however, was that at the same time that hundreds of people rallied to save a solitary child, dozens of children were being lost in other parts of our town and not a finger was lifted to help any of them. They were lost to the drug peddler who conducted business behind the school yard. They were being poisoned by the parents who were too busv to provide them with values and needed guidance. They were destroyed by the pornographers who taught them that they had no personal value or dignity. Far more lives were destroyed in the streets and open spaces of my home town than were ever lost in the woodlands that were nearby. But the fact is that no effort was ever made to find these voungsters or to eliminate the dangers that they encountered each day of their lives

Where we live today, nothing is different. Our children are surrounded by constant dangers. As parents and adults we are duty-bound to prepare our children to face and conquer these dangers. More often than not, however, we warn of the danger that destroys the body but ignore those that poison character and deaden the soul. We respond with alarm to the small tragedy but do nothing to avert the one which is far greater.