Where there is no vision, the people perish

"Where there is no vision, the people perish..." (Proverbs 29:18, KJV)

I'm familiar with this scripture, having studied it in my church years ago during a time of major transition within our church. Today, though, a friend (and clearly a spiritual sister sent by the Lord at the right time) ended a conversation in which we were talking about my son and her grandmother and structural sin by stating, "and people are perishing". I guess I understood this scripture to mean that it was the responsibility of the elders/leaders/heads/supervisors/directors to have a vision, or else they might not survive, they might not make it the whole way. (Think Moses not getting to go the Promised Land.) Today, though, my friend's response caught me off guard and clarified for me that though those in a position of power have the responsibility to maintain a vision, the danger is that the ones who usually suffer are those who are the most dependent on those who are in a position of power, those who are most vulnerable.

And, as I learned in another conversation today, way too often power protects power (either itself, or other like entities). Who, then, is protecting the vulnerable, especially when those in positions of power who are charged with protecting the vulnerable decline to do so?

Please take a look at the new links that I posted in the links columns today from Children's Rights, a watchdog organization that advocates on behalf of abused and neglected children throughout the U.S.