"Bless the Beasts and Children," was recorded by the Carpenters for the 1971 film of the same name. The film was about a group of misfits at an Arizona summer camp who band together to free buffalo. The Carpenters ended up including this song on their 1972 album, A Song for You. This song was written by Barry DeVorzon and Perry Botkin and in an interview with Barry from 13 years ago, he explained that his first attempt at the lyrics included mentioning all the wrong things done to animals and children. He wasn't happy with that version and decided to take a different approach to make the song a "simple blessing," for these two vulnerable groups.
January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, and last year, I shared a blog post and my song cover of "Heal the World" to bring awareness to these horrific crimes. I wasn't sure if I was going to share another awareness post this month, but lately, I have been hearing more about organizations who are rescuing children, and I've realized there's still so much more that needs to happen to end this $150 billion dollar industry once and for all. With over 25 million victims worldwide, 27% are children. That's nearly 7 million children, which is disturbing and unfathomable.
In the same way that "Heal the World" continues to still be relevant over the past few decades, I recognize that "Bless the Beasts and Children" seems to be incredibly important now, bringing focus back to animals and children at a time when they continue to be victims of the most horrendous crimes and abuse. Every minute, an animal is abused, and dogs make up 65% of all abused animals. As a dog owner myself, that is devastating to hear.
This song has captured my heart recently in a way I wasn’t expecting, even though I've known it for 19 years. I even came across a cover of the song last week on Instagram, and so I believe it was meant to be that I share my version with all of you.
The lyrics of the song bring blessings of light and love to these two groups that are too often the voiceless and the choice-less. Children and animals are born with an innocence and purity and they see the world through that lens. Unfortunately, it doesn't represent the world we live in, but there's always hope.
Children and animals are tremendous blessings in our lives. We all have the amazing opportunity to come together in unity to, "light their way when the darkness surrounds them," by sending love and prayerful thoughts: "Give them love, let it shine all around them." It would be miraculous if our combined prayers created a veil of protection over these children and animals, and it's possible with enough of us aligned in this mission.
There are of course many ways for those of us who can give financially to contribute to organizations that are rescuing children and animals. I recently contributed to Saving Innocence, an organization based in Los Angeles that rescues children from trafficking and provides aftercare for them. I first found out about them a few years ago, and sent them yarn blankets that I made.
In a world that seems to have lost much of its humanity and care for the welfare of our children and animals, I want to make it my mission to bring awareness to these groups as often as I can, and shed light on the human trafficking crisis. If we don't talk about it enough and try to help in any way we can, we are allowing the loss of humanity itself. We cannot have true world peace if these horrendous crimes continue. And as I mentioned in my blog last January, our world is in need of healing and our awareness and action are so crucial at this time. I believe we can do more together than individually in this mission. Will you join me?
For those of you who have thoughts on how we can collaborate further, I would love to hear from you.