So many of the people who talk this talk cease to have any interest or concern in the life of a baby once it is a baby, which is to say, is born.

I am what you could surely call “up with babies”, and my daily life shows this. I care about each and every baby having enough food, clean diapers, economic security, and being born into a family that wants and loves and cares for him and her. I am childless (not by choice) and have acted as an adopted aunt many times over the years, as well as done much volunteer work with and for disadvantaged children.

Please tell me: have you ever taken care of a child? Have you ever had sex without a condom and not followed up to make sure the girl wasn’t pregnant? Were you wanted and loved? Are you loved and wanted now, by someone, as yourself? How many children are in your life? How many babies? How many young people feel free to call you on the phone when they need help, or because they just want to talk?

If you want to help babies instead of the idea of babies, become a Big Brother. Volunteer at a hospital. Be an adopted uncle to a friend’s child.

Being “up with babies” is about a thousand times more meaningful, more time-consuming, and more difficult, than going on a protest march where, for a brief period of time, you feel righteous and accepted and part of a large group of people.

Doing this (loving a child, a particular child, not an abstract idea of a child) will turn your life around.

It will even take you, spiritually, from Rags to riches.