Seeds of Dignity and Peace - International Day of Families 2009
Message from Eugen Brand, General Director, International Movement ATD Fourth World
But some children are torn from their roots. These children can spend their whole lives wondering where they come from and why they, unlike others, lack recognition of their history. Their families have been displaced, banished, or split apart. "The river rose so quickly in the dark of our hovel, I barely had time to grab the children’s hands." Their parents, worn out by years of rootlessness, overwhelmed by repeated humiliations, voice their utmost hope that their sufferings will not burden their children: "May my body be the last to endure this."
When life is harsh, what do we pass on to our children? In the face of horror, what words are possible? What do we keep silent? Shorn of hope of relief, how can we resist sinking into anger, hatred, or vengence? How can we resist sinking into sorrow, resignation or despair, in order to dare to raise our heads and to look for paths of reconciliation?
The greatest injustice in the crisis we are now undergoing is that it risks distancing us more than ever from those who have endured the ravages of extreme poverty for so long. Of course the crisis affects many more people, though it weighs the most heavily on those who have borne the violence of deep poverty, deprivation, and disdain. The paradox is that the more people are worn down by extreme poverty, the harder it is for them to show others how they resist it, day after day, in the name of dignity, and on behalf of their children.
In our societies, bent under fear of the future, ATD Fourth World sees every day that each and every human being carries seeds of peace. Seeds of recognizing one another’s dignity, seeds of the sisterhood and brotherhood that can free children and their families from the morass of shame and failure by restoring pride in their own history.
The year 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. As of now, may we all, young and old, be people laboring in the face of extreme poverty to forge a heritage of dignity and peace for the next generations.
International Day of Families 2009
– Eugen Brand, Director General
