Our greatest assets are Unitarian reason and Universalist love. I find it difficult to imagine how one ever existed without the other. Each tempers the other, each supports the other. Each challenges and affirms the other. We need each if we are ever to comprehend our world and our place within it. We need each if we are ever to feel OK about the human condition.

A couple weeks ago a young man -- no, make that a boy -- placed hundreds of children at risk by carrying loaded weapons and pipe bombs to his school in Elmira, New York. In this day and age that has almost become blasé, "who cares?" news. Perhaps if blood had been spilled it would have lingered in the headlines a few more days. Thankfully, no one was physically hurt, although emotionally we all have been damaged.

Fifteen minutes away children are threatening to take other children's lives. Even though that's close, at least it wasn't in one of OUR schools, right? We can breathe a sigh of relief, right? Wrong. The fact of the matter is, our children are at risk every day, in numerous ways.

I write this article having just come from a forum on violence sponsored by the Partners in Family and Community Development (offered 2/22/01). Our children -- our precious future -- are each day in the company of others at school who are intent on causing harm. Children as young as first grade are sexually harassing classmates. Children are bullying. Children are emotionally abusing each other. Children are pushing drugs onto others. Children are slipping concealed weapons, especially knives, into school. These things are happening in the valley schools because they are happening in all schools. Kids hurting kids.

Never is my faith so challenged as when I hear of children behaving with malicious intent. I sincerely believe that we are born in original blessing instead of original sin. I sincerely believe in the inherent worth and dignity of all individuals. I sincerely believe that we are all deserving of heaven, no matter what "evil" we may commit during our lives.

I sincerely believe that we are all good people at heart, no matter what our words or behaviors may indicate otherwise. My love is big enough to believe these things, even in the face of kids killing kids. But am I being rational in my faith?

As reported at the forum on violence, when a six-year-old boy is the perpetrator of sexual abuse of a classmate by digitally penetrating her vagina, when a ten-year-old slams someone against the wall, when a thirteen-year-old forces sex with a date, when an eighteen-year-old hides pipe bombs in his school, am I justified in wanting to believe that these children are born without sin, or that they will escape eternal punishment for their actions? Perhaps I am horribly naive, as some of the local Christian ministers insist.

Psychologists tell us that children rarely act in originality. That is, they don't dream up these behaviors on their own but, instead, they replicate what they have seen, heard, or what they have been on the receiving end of. In other words, a child who molests another is almost certainly a victim of molestation him or herself. Or, a child that turns to the alluring power of weapons is encouraged to do so by the violence portrayed in the media or in video games. A good theory, perhaps.

Some conservative, Christian ministers say it is the egocentricity of children that sets the stage for these behaviors. In their paradigm, greed is inherent and children succumb to it, taking whatever avenue necessary to garner power and control unto themselves. Abuse and oppression of others "feeds" the "greed need" of the child. The ego is a tool of Satan, implanted in the human breast to separate us from each other and from God. A plausible theory? Perhaps. Certainly, every child goes through a lengthy stage of "MEness" in which everything is centered on the self.

Still, I cannot help but remember my own children at birth. No one could ever have convinced me that the perfect little cherubs I held in my arms were harboring evil or sin. They couldn't have done so then, nor could they now. I will insist to anyone who says otherwise that our inherent nature is, if anything, divine rather than sinful. As a denomination we do not baptize our children because we feel no need to cleanse them of sin. As an individual, I echo those sentiments wholeheartedly.

So if it's not nature, then it must be nurture. Now that statement is not intended to blame parents or families. Nurture in this case includes the whole ball of wax -- our culture (society) as a whole. I don't believe we can point at video games as the source of trouble, or TV, or gangsta song lyrics, or "dirty old uncles," or public schools, or any one thing as the problem. It's everything, and it's insidious. Little bits here, little pieces there, all adding up to create overwhelming pressure on our youth.

Is there any hope? Of course there is. Otherwise I'd be advocating that we all stop having children and give the planet a break by allowing the human race to pass from the face of the earth. Now is not the time to waiver in our faith beliefs. If ever our Unitarian Universalism is needed, it is needed now. In the face of this apparent chaos, there is always hope. There is hope in believing that we ARE all inherently good and worthy of dignity and respect. There is hope in promoting that philosophy to others. There is hope in offering love and acceptance. There is hope in our efforts to change the world. There is hope in our arts, our songs, our care, our commitment.

I could go on and on but I think you get the picture. So long as we have faith in humanity, and/or faith in the divine, there is hope. Yes, some kids are suffering more than others, and their acting out is a cry for help. We can, and should, answer those pleas, but we must also act for the betterment of all. We can do it. We can do it by employing our Unitarian reason and our Universalist love, and we can make a difference. I believe this with all my heart.

One presenter at the conference shared with us the traditional Masai greeting whenever two people meet. It is, "How are the children?" Let us be able to answer with a clear conscience that they are well. Let us make it so.

H. Lee Richards