Are Australian babies more precious than African babies? Are white babies more valuable than black babies? Is the health of babies of non indigenous Australian parents a greater priority than the health of babies of indigenous Australian parents? Are the babies of wealthy first world parents more worthy of our care and our outrage than the babies of poor third world parents?
I can't get questions like these out of my head ever since I discovered that 24,000 children die every day in our world before their fifth birthday from preventable causes. They die from starvation related illnesses or diseases for which there are cures.
24,000 children every day of every year
Preventable (not mysterious) causes
Before their fifth birthday
What would happen if 24 children died daily across Sydney, or even across Australia, or even if it was monthly and not daily, from a mystery illness? We would call it a national crisis, start a fundraising Foundation to support their families, pour millions of dollars of public and private money into medical research and any less urgent action would be called a national disgrace!
If these 24 children died from known and preventable causes, it may bring down the Government. It would certainly mean the sacking of the Federal Minister for Health, every State and Territory Minister for Health and a lot of other heads would roll as well. DOCS would be called in and then probably sacked. Millions of dollars would be spent on bureaucratic blame shifting and deck chair shuffling, and there would be calls for a Royal Commission. These measures would barely quieten the cries or settle the angst of the parents of healthy children or stop them storming Government buildings and demonstrating on the streets demanding action.
This depth of concern, spilling over into public outrage, would make compelling media footage which would be televised on news bulletins all over the world so that the whole planet would know that Australian people, Australian parents and Australian grandparents are not deaf to the cries of children and their traumatised parents.
Am I exaggerating? Last week in Queensland an Australian baby died tragically after receiving a flu vaccination. It was all over the nightly news night for days on end. For one death! And I'm not saying it shouldn't have been.
But, but, 24,000 children! Every day of every year from preventable causes before their fifth birthday!
This stark statistic and the tsunami of human suffering that lies beneath it is an assault on our common human dignity (let alone it being an affront to the Christian World View that honours every human life, both in the womb and in the cradle, as one who is created in the image of God, and redeemable in Jesus). But we in the west don't seem to have the collective moral courage to do anything about it.
In the words of Dylan, "How many ears must one man have until he can hear people cry? And how many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesn't see?"
Are white babies more valuable than black babies?
