I distinctly remember the day six years ago. I had come home from a discouraging day at work—trouble with my boss, trouble with my computer, and trouble with my research. I had brought home a mood that was angry and selfish—a mood that my family immediately recognized, for it had become all too common. They wisely decided to give me some space, or more likely they just did not want to be around me.
Left alone to pickle in self-pity, I picked up the pile of mail that had arrived, and among the bills, credit card applications, and a couple of epidemiology journals, was the November/December, 1999, issue of Public Health Reports. Although I was a year behind in my journal reading, and with no particular motivation to change that situation, I was lured by the front cover of PHR, which showed a rather young person moving a mountain of bricks. On his/her head (you couldn't tell age or gender), there was a stack of 10 large bricks. I chuckled at the parallel between how I felt and the depiction of life in that picture. Woe is me. It was enough to make me look into the journal to see what the story was about. It turned out to be a photo essay called “Stolen Dreams,” by David Parker, MD. My life was about to change.
My spoiled attitude toward foolish disappointments was overwhelmed by pictures of children whose souls were being stolen by the force of endless toil at dangerous jobs. I suppose I always knew about it, but this was like a bucket of ice water poured over my head—awakening me with a start. To make a long story short, this sudden shift in my perspective compelled me to make several overdue adjustments to my own life. My intention was to become more relevant. I realized that I had once held this very same stance several decades earlier, but somehow it had been pushed aside. Ironically, one of those adjustments was a factor in my becoming Editor of PHR one year later.
As Editor, one of the topics I have wanted PHR to explore in much greater depth is the nature and consequence of child labor. Eventually, my path crossed with David Parker's, and we began to collaborate on several projects. Among these was this special topic issue of PHR on hazardous child labor. We invited others to contribute and we obtained permissions to reprint two of the vital underlying documents produced by the International Labour Organization, United Nations, which has been thinking through this topic for a while. Each individual paper in this issue is, at once, separated and united by a photo by David Parker.
With a desire to get the attention of, or even touch a heartstring in people who could help rid the world of the blight of hazardous child labor, we bring you this issue of PHR.