By JOYCE BEVERLY
jbeverly@thecitizennews.com

A little child held them.

Ralph Jones Jr., a diminuitive third grader with oversized oratorical skills, transfixed a standing-room-only group of business leaders at the South Fulton Chamber of Commerce breakfast Feb. 8.

The 7-year-old Ralph Jones Jr. demanded of the group of more than 100 business persons and elected officials, "What about the children?"

Standing atop a step stool behind a podium three times his size, Jones' surprise appearance following a presentation by 7th District Commissioner Bill Edwards dramatically illustrated the commissioner's platform of "education as economic development."

"You must be about the business of children," Jones said emphatically. "Stop listening to the media and start being part of the children's world."

The two-minute speech was the finale of a 90-minute chamber meeting at the Crowne Plaza Hotel near Hartsfield International Airport in which many in the audience lingered to meet the last speaker. The student's mother, Marion Jones, said her son has been making speaking appearances since he was 2 years old, when he recited the Sesame Street Book House of Colors at a school exercise.

He has been a featured speaker at Ben Hill United Methodist Church, where he and his family are members, and also at Radcliff Presbyterian Church. In addition to his gifts of oration, Jones is a member of the Atlanta Boy Choir.

His mother, a teacher of the year at Bethune Elementary School in Atlanta, tutored her son at home prior to his entering Believer's Bible Christian Academy, where his academic achievements have accelerated him into third grade.

The speech that Jones delivered at the meeting was written by Donald Prater, a counselor at Bethune Elementary.

The text of the speech:

We are born cute, adorable, sweet and cuddly.

We, the children, make the world go around and around. We remind our parents, teachers and family members what they used to be.

Oh, but something happens ... something happens! What causes the young to grow up so fast? They are forced to deal with life's trials and tribulations. Due to adults' poor decisions and actions, the children begin to make bad choices.

We are old enough for the action, but we are too young for the responsibilities that come with it. There is a young boy trying to help feed and clothe his brothers and sisters; a mother has abused her daughter; now, her daughter is looking for love in the wrong places; a 16-year-old boy blames himself for his father's leaving him ... he joins a gang for a sense of false identity.

Our children ... our children have seen and live it. They are up against some serious odds. Who will teach them to focus on the problem solver not the problem?

You have a responsibility to us! You must reach and guide us in a way that we must go. ... You must reach us with some type of understanding, compassion, and a whole lot of love. You must give us a sense of pride and motivation to reach our dreams and goals.

Teach us to look toward the hills from which cometh our help! Reach us! Teach us! You must reach and teach us!

You must be about the business of children.

Stop listening to the media and start being part of the children's world. My challenge to you today is take a moment and ask yourself this question: What about the children? What about the children? What about the children?

What about me?