What is the psychological makeup of people who choose to become aid workers, teachers and peacekeepers? Do most of them genuinely believe that children are our future and if we teach them well, they will lead the way? I’m sure that most of them do. However, it does hurt these sincere, charitable beings when there are others who have been able to find a way to get easy access to children for less than honorable motives.

According to a report in 2006 from the Save-the-Children organization, young Liberian girls in displaced camps were sexually abused by aid workers, soldiers, government employees and officials. The desperate children were offered food and other provisions in exchange for sex. These girls ranged in ages from eight to eighteen years old. There are so many infuriating issues in this story that I do not have the time to address them all. One major issue, though, is about control. I suppose any lowlife can hide behind the altruistic image of a teacher or aid and use it for his or her gratification.

Most parents try to get their children involved in reputable organizations so that the children have solid and positive role models. There is the story of the Queens, NY Scoutmaster who hid behind an image in order to gain access. But what do we make of the story of the second-grade boys from Missouri who assaulted a girl in their class that was reported some months ago? I found it curious to hear St. Louis Superintendent Creg Williams continuously referring to the boys as “young men” in a CNN interview. Young men? They are children and there were several of them groping a little girl. One thing is certain, these children have already discovered the power of sex.

We can blame television, video games and the Internet, and I’m sure they do in some way instigate what those boys did, especially due to how young they are. But, society has always had sexual predators. It simply wasn’t discussed. Girls were told they had little recourse other than to dismiss boys’ advances while boys were rarely told what they were doing was harassment. There is a lesson for these second graders that needs to be learned, much of it being called respect. Without a doubt, it goes much deeper than that, but respecting each other, including oneself, would go a long way; perhaps even all the way to Liberia.