Jack of Harts

Hundreds of thousands of children have suffered the effects of war and forced migration over the last few years. In Ukraine, Israel, and America alone, children have been kidnapped, held hostage, and killed in numbers that are unfathomable. Whether taken by Russians, Hamas, or by Human Smugglers, the suffering of these children has been horrible.

One of the chief jobs of civilization is to protect our children so they can grow into functional adults that drive civilization on to a better future. We have done a better job of this in recent months. American law enforcement officers report having found tens of thousands of the children over the last few months that child services lost during the Biden Administration. Reuniting them with their families is something that we must do.

At the same time, this weekend we have very good news for Israeli and Ukrainian children. Melania Trump has been talking with Putin who recently agreed to return some Ukrainian children to their families. And Donald Trump got just about everybody in the Middle East to agree to a cease fire in Gaza that will result in all of the remaining hostages being returned to Israel.

I don’t know how much of this will actually work. Putin and Hamas are not trustworthy. Both have broken many agreements in the past and I’m certain will break others in the future. We may find out this week that nothing happens. But this is still a step in the right direction. And I hope it marks genuine progress.