Freedom!... for the children too.

As Jamaica celebrates Emancipation Day this August 1, let us as Optimists remember children across the world who are enslaved. The historians tell us that the reading of the emancipation proclamation on the morning of August 1, 1834 ended slavery in the British colonies.  History also tells us that full free did not come until four years later August 1, 1838.  On this Augus mawnin 2012, let us not take our freedom of the last 174 years for granted. Neither should we ignore the evidence that millions of people around the world are still being enslaved; and among those in slavery most are children.  We have a responsibility, especially as Optimists, to use freedom as a platform for advancing the inherent right of every child to human dignity and harmonious development. When all is said and done, if all our children are not free then where are we as humanity? Freedom for the children; freedom for all.