Killing Children With Diplomacy

See, this is why I always ask my daughter what ideas she has when we have a problem to solve.

Kids don't care about politics or the bottom line, they just want to help. You want to keep kids from dying of water-borne diseases? You don't hire a committee, you just go door-to-door and teach them how to wash their hands.

The teenagers tend to avoid politics and corporate agendas and focus on cooperative action. They're here to learn about each other's projects and spread the word to more children.

"We must all fight together to change our lives and those of others," says Dolly, who was flown here from her bamboo-and-tin home by the United Nations Children's Fund "How can we stand by and let children die if there are solutions?"

Vanessa Tobin, chief of UNICEF's water and sanitation section, appreciates the straightforward talk. "There's no diplomacy in their dialogue. It's all very direct and very honest."

Think of all we could achieve if we could take this simple attitude of desiring to benefit others, rather than trying to benefit our own reputations, our corporations or our governments.

Put a teenager in the White House, not some selfish grizzled career politician. At least teenagers care about fairness.