Music calls to us from out of our childhood.
Tonight, my mind wondered to an old familiar song from long ago. The comforting voice and calming chords were were calling me to a an imaginary green dragon and a little boy. I remember this echo through my mind, when I was about 8 years old. How I welcomed the music, today, as it refreshed me.
Back then, my grandparents had built an old playhouse that connected to their garage. I had some toys and stuff animals there, and it was my fortress. The only picture I have of it is the one pressed in my memory of it. I also had a tree house in a tall old willow tree in their backyard. My friends and I would enjoy those places. When I was by myself I would play with my Tonka toys and matchbox cars, as they drove by mounds of dirt that I thought were buildings in a city. Those were innocent, happy times well remembered,.
The old playhouse is long gone, as is my childhood.
Innocence does not last forever. Peter, Paul and Mary perfectly capture that loss of childhood innocence in the beloved song, 'Puff The Magic Dragon.' With comic humor and audience participation, they perform this classic in their 25th anniversary concert. Feel free to listen.
His head was bowed in sorrow, green scales fell like rain.
Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane.
A child's innocence is brief, yet so naturally pure. It is interesting how the green dragon sheds tears over the loss of Jackie's childhood. How many more tears would be shed, if his friend's innocence were trashed by a stranger or the tyranny of a government. The loss of innocence should not be prematurely caused in its death out of greed and selfishness.
Yet, so many children are abruptly stolen and trafficked by our governmental CPS, without a closure to their childhood. These young boys and girls are torn from their mom and dad and placed in the guardianship of strangers. They often hear angry voices and feel violent hands. They are moved from home to home. Many end up on the streets, used for sex or dead. Too many are uprooted without being able to emotionally grow again. Like a flower without soil, water or sun, they wither away, nameless to an apathetic public.
Manipulation, intimidation, the element of surprise and outright lies are used as tools by the CPS to breakup families and end innocence early.
It is the filthy greed of the system, that incentivizes case workers to sever families and place children in foster care. You might call it the cash cow baby farm of our government. Child trafficking is very profitable, out performing illegal drugs and guns combined.
It is a filthy injustice that cash profit means more than the welfare of people. How quickly the word 'sever' becomes 'severe' overnight.
The system is designed to protect the CPS and child traffickers. Court judges and lawyers are paid off or morally compromised. Many families pour their life saving into legal fees, only to find a rigged injustice.
Sadly, our morally corrupt government has no respect for innocence. It has been reported, they used underage girls in prostitution houses to sexually satisfy soldiers in WW2 and the Vietnam Conflict. Todays CPS/child trafficking would be their natural progression. We have allowed this sex trafficking to go on far too long. Our apathy and ignorance must end.
The magic of childhood goes quickly like a vapor. It is up to us to help protect and preserve that innocence as long as possible, to insure a normal and natural progression in their growing up years. Many of these families are voiceless and helpless, in the face of tyranny. We are their voice and their hope. It is up to us be their friend, their voice and their protector.
I encourage you to remember the magic of your childhood. It may have come from a toy, stuffed animal, childhood friend or song. It may even be that green dragon or playhouse. But it was special. Help preserve that specialness in the life of a child or family today. And if you are fortunate to have children of your own, participate in their lives and let them know you love them, through your protection of them.
Green dragons may be imaginary and fictional, but the tyrannical trafficking of children is tragically real, leaving a shattering of life.
When we listen to to the Peter Paul and Mary video performance above, the last verse is in the present tense... as in...
Puff the magic dragon LIVES by the sea.
The innocence of childhood only lives when we choose to protect it.