Suffer the Children, The Horror of a Nursery Rhyme

Ah, the nursery rhymes that captured our childhood. A happy and carefree time put forth in verse and idealism. In these ballads it almost seems that this pristine time in our lives may be eternal, but sadly we all know we must move on...eventually to the turmoil and uncertainty of adulthood. But were those anthems of our youth really intended to raise images of unicorns, rainbows, and fairies? This is a horror blog, so let us look at what Andy Van Scoyoc put forth in her re-imagining of the nursery rhyme "Suffer the Children." 

"Suffer the Children," skip rope to it, chant it in an even beat, maybe put an innocent tune to it...beautiful. Andy doesn't pull in jump ropes or sappy songs but does give us this nursery rhyme in its entirety. With a haunting score, mixed in with grave images of angelic children (many from cemeteries), we are presented a haunting, and sadly a so often realistic picture of childhood. Sure...play and laughing are present, but reading newspapers and watching newscasts, and observing our surroundings reveal elements of childhood that in many instances include abuse, terminal illness, debilitating mental disabilities, and an entire culture eager to addict our angels to psychotropic drugs and hateful propaganda.

An actual reveal of the text of this nursery rhyme does hint at this. Sure, the innocent among us are indeed "full of grace," but a few words later that same child is "full of woe." When we heard this poem as children we focused on love...with some artistic manipulation (music and images), Andy delivers a poem truer to its original intentions. Yes, the children should be innocent, but cemeteries are indeed filled with our most innocent among us because of evil adults and selfish intentions. Our most precious resource is preyed upon by a society that has perverted priorities and a growing impatience for the inconvenient...which children can be. Andy has given us this nursery rhyme suggesting these sordid realities...and this may be uncomfortable to us simply because we see it as a convicting tale.

Andy's work in delivering an interpretation of "Suffer the Children" may be difficult to watch, but watch it we should. In some small way I believe Andy is making a plea to wake up and realize that we have lost our nurturing and protective sense in western civilization in favor of selfishness and exploitation. God help the children and maybe Andy's film is a good first step to re-prioritizing our children.
To see Andy's "Suffer the Children," click on this link Suffer the Children