Those who exploit the powerless anger their Maker...

Proverbs 14: 31-33, from the Common English Bible:

³¹ Those who exploit the powerless anger their Maker, while those who are kind to the poor honor God. ³² The wicked are thrown down by their own evil, but the righteous find refuge even in death. ³³ Wisdom resides in an understanding heart, but it’s not known in fools.

We're not the most religious of folk, but then Proverbs is far from the most religious book in the Bible.  Most translations render the word "powerless" in the headline as "poor," but I like this translation, because it appropriately describes the following:

"Putin Signs Bill That Bars U.S. Adoptions, Upending Families," from the New York Times; dated today:

President Vladimir V. Putin signed a bill on Friday that bans the adoption of Russian children by American citizens, dealing a serious blow to an already strained diplomatic relationship. But for hundreds of Americans enmeshed in the costly, complicated adoption process, the impact was deeply personal....

The law calls for the ban to be put in force on Tuesday, and it stands to upend the plans of many American families in the final stages of adopting in Russia. Already, it has added wrenching emotional tumult to a process that can cost $50,000 or more, requires repeated trips overseas, and typically entails lengthy and maddening encounters with bureaucracy....

The bill that includes the adoption ban was drafted in response to the Magnitsky Act, a law signed by President Obama this month that will bar Russian citizens accused of violating human rights from traveling to the United States and from owning real estate or other assets there....

One mother from North Carolina who was in Russia on Thursday preparing to return to the United States with her newly adopted son expressed outrage that Russian officials were not adhering to a requirement in the new bilateral agreement on adoptions that called for one year’s notice if either side wanted to terminate it.

This mother, who requested anonymity out of fear that her that were family would be blocked from leaving Russia, described how the relationship between parents and children begins long before the children leave the orphanage. She and her husband adopted a boy in Russia in 2009 and returned with him last week to pick up his new brother.

“A lot of parents leave little picture albums with the children, with pictures of the new Mama and Papa and siblings and pets and bedrooms,” said the mother, who is in her 30s and works in marketing.

The short-term effect of this bill will be devastating to a group of American families, which I imagine is the intended outcome.  But it will be even more devastating to the Russian children who had been promised families, and now will have that promise broken.  And the long-term effect will be fewer Russian children adopted next year, and the year after that, and the year after that. 

 

These kids will fall through the cracks, because more enter the system every year, and those still in the system have no one to advocate for them.  But, in reality, what matter the concerns of the powerless when there is a political statement to be made? In reality... there are few understanding hearts.