The Questions of Children

This past Wednesday, I had the opportunity to speak to the children of St. Cecelia school, the Catholic school in Ames that goes from kindergarten to fifth grade.

After a power point presentation that featured my ministry in Honduras, with lots of pictures of Honduran kids, there was a barrage of questions. Some of the questions were what you might expect from kid, like “Does it snow there?” But there were three very pointed questions.

One of the first questions came from a child who might have been in kindergarten: “Are you poor?”
“No, I’m not,” I responded, “though I do live on less than $500 a month for basic expenses.” I said a few more things, but I had told them that 64% of the people of Honduras have less than $2.00 available each day for their basic needs.

A little later an older girl asked me the most amazing question: “Why are the people poor?” I was floored. I told her that that was a great question and that she should continue to ask it all her life, starting with her current social studies teacher. I tried to explain a few of what I saw as causes of poverty but she left me almost tongue-tied.

Not to be outdone, an older boy asked me. “Why do the people not get more money for their crops?” I responded to him much as I had to the other student.

Out of the mouth of children came the most outstanding questions. I pray that they keep asking these questions and that adults start asking the same questions and keep their hearts open to the poor.