Children don't get to choose their parents. They don't get to choose where they are born, the schools they attend, the communities they grow up in, or the economic circumstances they inherit.

That is why certain principles we apply to adults cannot always be applied to children.

A child does not earn an income. A child does not determine the quality of the home they live in. A child does not decide whether their parents value education or can afford school supplies. Many of the factors that shape the quality of a child's life are completely outside their control.

I once had a conversation about politics where someone asked me a question: "If you believe in capitalism, why do you do charity work? Why do you support giving free school bags to children and helping to improve their education?"

My answer was simple.

Children are not market participants in the way adults are. They are not making economic decisions that determine their circumstances. They are beneficiaries-or victims-of decisions made by others.

That is why I believe helping children is different.

A child has no say in whether they receive a quality education. Yet education remains one of the most powerful tools for changing the trajectory of a person's life. It opens the eyes. It expands the mind. It creates possibilities where none seemed to exist.

If we can contribute, even in a small way, to improving a child's education, then we are not merely giving away school supplies. We are investing in a future that the child did not choose but will eventually have to live in.

This principle extends beyond education.

If you have a problem with a child's parents, do not extend that problem to the child. Children do not get to choose who their parents are. They should not be punished, excluded, neglected, or denied opportunities because of decisions they did not make and circumstances they did not create.

Too often, society judges children through the lens of their parents. We assume they are responsible for burdens they neither chose nor understand. That is unfair.

Judge adults by their choices. Judge children by their potential.

A school bag may seem small. A book may seem insignificant. But sometimes the smallest interventions create opportunities that last a lifetime.

Children deserve help because they are still becoming. They are not yet in a position to determine their own outcomes. The least we can do is give them a better starting point.

One of the marks of a healthy society is how it treats those with the least power. Few people have less control over their circumstances than children. They deserve our patience, our compassion, and our investment—not because they have earned it, but because they are human beings with a future ahead of them.

Just a thought.