Sharing a New Year’s prayer, by Marian Wright Edelman

Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund, received an honorary doctorate from The Ohio State University on Sunday, December 17, 2017.

Mirian Wright Edelman receives her honorary degree from President Michael Drake.

I consider it one of the highest honors of my career to see this event occur, and I am grateful to our many nominators, listed below, who worked with EHE Distinguished Professor David Bloome to make it all happen.

Ms. Edelman didn’t get the chance to speak at the graduation ceremony. However, she offered a prayer at a luncheon before the ceremony.

Ms. Edelman was kind enough to share it with us. Whatever your religious affiliation may or may not be, I think this prayer speaks to everyone and for all our children.

It’s a nice way to reflect on the holidays and might serve as a guidepost to our hearts in the New Year.

O GOD OF ALL CHILDREN

By Marian Wright Edelman

O God of the children of Syria and Sudan, of Iraq, Iran and Israel, of Nigeria, Myanmar, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and of the West Bank and Gaza,
Of Chicago, Cleveland, Darfur and Detroit and Ferguson
Of Libya, Yemen and Ukraine, England, France and Turkey
Of Nagasaki and Hiroshima
Help us to love and respect and protect them all.

O God of Black and Brown and White and Albino children and those all mixed together,
Of children who are rich and poor and in between,
Of children who speak English and Russian and Hmong and Spanish and Hebrew and Arabic languages and dialects our ears cannot discern,
Help us to love and respect and protect them all.

O God of the child prodigy and child prostitute, of the child of rapture and the child of rape,
Of run or thrown away children who struggle every day without parent or place or friend or future,
Help us to love and respect and protect them all.

O God of children who can walk and talk and hear and see and sing and dance and jump and play and of children who wish they could but can’t,
Of children who are loved and unloved, wanted and unwanted,
Help us to love and respect and protect them all.

O God of beggar, beaten, abused, neglected, homeless, AIDS, drug, violence, war and hunger-ravaged children,
Of children who are emotionally, physically or mentally fragile, and of children who rebel and ridicule, torment and taunt,
Help us to love and respect and protect them all.

O God of children of destiny and of despair, of war and of peace,
Of disfigured, diseased, and dying children,
Of children without hope and of children with hope to spare and to share,
Help us to love and respect and protect them all.


Faculty and staff from the College of Education and Human Ecology (EHE), from across The Ohio State University, and from universities and organizations around the United States who nominated Marian Wright Edelman for an honorary degree from Ohio State are:

Jackie Blount, Educational Studies, EHE
Jeffrey Cohen, Anthropology, Ohio State
Colette Dollarhide, Educational Studies, EHE
Kay Halasek, English, Ohio State
Laura Justice, Educational Studies, EHE
Laurie Katz, Teaching and Learning, EHE
Valerie Kinloch, Teaching and Learning, EHE (now at U of Pittsburgh)
Cynthia Lewis, University of Minnesota
Jerome Morris, University of Missouri, St. Louis
Linda James Myers, African and African-American Extension Center
Michelle Chambers Robison, Office of Academic Affairs, EHE
Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan, Human Sciences, EHE
Amy Shuman, Folklore, Ohio State
Brandi Slaughter, Raise Your Voice for Kids
Donald Winford, Linguistics, Ohio State
Karen Wohlwend, Indiana University

 

 

4 thoughts on “Sharing a New Year’s prayer, by Marian Wright Edelman

  1. This powerful poem reminds us in these challenging times that children above all deserve just 3 things: to love, to be loved, and to know they matter. – With gratitude to Marian Wright Edelman.

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