While I was in India in the fall of 2007 one of my colleagues became sick and spent some time in a hospital in Coimbatore.  I remember seeing this sign and thinking that it was rather odd and amusing, enough so to prompt me to take this picture of it.  Later, I learned the reason for the hospital's policy of not telling prospective parents whether they are having a boy or a girl, and why doing so is punishable by law.  And the sign ceased to be amusing.  Historically, and even presently in many parts of India, there is a clear preference for sons over daughters.  Enough so that some parents would abort the baby if they knew that it was going to be female.

A recent article in the news highlighted certain evidences of this problem.  It cited male to female ratios for children under the age of 6.  The nation's sex ration was reported to have fallen to 914 girls to every 1000 boys this year.  The article spotlighted a recent renaming ceremony held for the 285 girls in the district whose parents selected a name meaning "unwanted" in Hindi.  Rather than continue to have their name stand as a daily reminded that they were not wanted by their parents, and perhaps by society, they are able to shed that name and choose another to be known by.

The therapist in me loves the idea of having a formal renaming ceremony.  The human side of me hurts to think of parents who don't want their children and who blatantly communicate to those young girls that they are not wanted, not valued or not good enough.  I recognize some of the social factors that play into a preference for a son over a daughter in India.  A son receives a dowry when he weds, and a son will take care of the parents when they are old.  A daughter requires an expensive dowry which is a burden on the family.  Still, however socially reasonable such a preference might be, it fails to account for the worth of a soul.  There are problems that exist both abroad and much closer to home in regards for valuing and caring for children and for women.  I'm grateful for people who are good parents and dedicated social activists who work to promote care for every child.

In my Institute class, we recently reviewed King Benjamin's great sermon and how his people were given a name--they were to be known by the name of Christ.  If the world could see each child, and each person, as a child of God and value them for that infinite worth and divine potential, what a wonderful world this would be.  The worth of a soul is worth so much more than the worth of a dowry.  And, bringing it closer to home, it can't be determined based on the brand of clothes people wear, the way they speak, the home they live in, or the degree of education they have attained.  Judging people based on their potential for social capital is a pretty dangerous standard of measurement.  Seeing people as they really are, or seeing them in the context of their spiritual potential is an amazing thing.  I hope that I can have eyes to see and act accordingly.