DOES WAR DESERVE OUR CHILDREN? *warning, disturbing images*

This is about pain, sadness, grief, misery and loss. This is about the teachers that will never educate, the doctors that will never save lives, the scientists that will never make astonishing discoveries, and the visionaries that will never shed new light for the world. This is about the boundless love that is lost, that the world will never realize. This is about those precious moments when, as parents, we nurture, cultivate and propagate our future. This is about our children. Not just our own flesh and blood children, but the children of the world. It is the greatest atrocity of humankind to allow the continuation of the genocide of our future.

Everyday in the news there are countless reports of horrid crimes happening in the homes and marketplaces of the world's neighborhoods: robbery, gang violence, drug violence, rape, kidnapping, brutality, murder. Some areas have it better than others. I am one of the lucky few who lives in an area where you usually only encounter domestic violence, meth rings, kidnappings, and if you drive the 30 miles into the city, rape, gang violence and murder. Somehow I still feel that I'm getting off easy since I'm not seeing all of this happening outside my window. But it is happening and it is getting closer. Other places are not so lucky. Places like Congo, Angola, Namibia, Mozambique, Somalia, Liberia, Rwanda, Uganda, Chad, Libya, Sierra Leone, central African Republic, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Burundi, Darfur, Sudan, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Guatemala, Mexico, New Guinea, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Cambodia, Tajikistan, East Timor, Former Yugoslavia, Georgia, Chechnya, Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Republic of Macedonia, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, and many others I may have missed have all experienced the truest form of war. Genocide, rape, disease, tortures and abuse happening to innocent men, women and children. Oh, the poor children.

What child on earth deserves to bear such a cruel fate? Does your child deserve that? Imagine your child as a victim of a drone strike- killed in an explosion in the middle of he night. Or imagine your child survives but has lost an arm and both legs. Imagine being fired at by someone in a military uniform, your child watching you and your partner die. How would it feel dying and knowing you are leaving your child an orphan at the mercy of those who murdered you? Imagine your entire family is murdered- Mother, Father, Sister, Brother, Aunt, Uncle, Grandmother, Grandfather. Everyday across the world children are seeing violence and depravity. They are being killed and those who survive grow up to watch it happen to everyone they know and go on living wit the memories of watching their families being raped, killed, and forced out of their homes. What kind of life are the survivors of these wars left with?

If the children are our future, aren't we digging our own graves by letting this continue? So maybe in our daily lives are own children are not being affected by these things, but it would seem that we are not really sufficiently preparing them for what kind of world it will be when they and the child victims of war and violence grow up. Very wicked things are happening to us and the world and they have been happening for a very long time. This is not the world I want to live in. I don't think any child deserves to die for any reason or cause, even if in the name of God, democracy, freedom or liberty. As long as this continues I will never be able to pursue my own happiness.

THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN DIE EACH DAY OF STARVATION. Yeah, we've seen the commercials. But think about it. That has to be the most horrible way to die. Have you ever been hungry? Have you ever been really really hungry? Did you know where your next meal was coming from? Did you have to share every piece of food you found with your whole family?

I keep thinking of the old adage: treat people how you would like to be treated. It is so simple, yet so effective. I would like to take it a step further- Treat other people's children how you would like your own children to be treated. I have two beautiful children. When I see pictures like the ones I have posted, I cannot help but to see my own children in those faces. THESE CHILDREN ARE INNOCENT, and yet are being indiscriminately killed every day. For all of the wars the world has known, how many of the true criminals have been brought to justice? How many innocent men, women and children had to die for this justice? And the world is not just! The corruption and the crime worsens and deepens with every innocent death and every war. The end results seem so unfair.

I don't see why I and my family deserve to eat when we are hungry, live in a home with electricity, hot and cold running water, heating in the winter and cooling in the summer, get to attend well-funded public schools and universities, we can own two cars and two computers with internet access. I don't have to worry about how my children are going to eat or if my house is going to be bombed or raided by soldiers or mercenaries in the middle of the night. I don't have to constantly worry about my elderly parents, aunts & uncles, grandparents or cousins' houses being bombed or any of them being caught in gunfire. I don't have to watch them slowly starve to death in agonizing pain.

The television tells me what to worry about. A desperate housewife doesn't think she got paid enough, Kim got divorced and Snooki is pregnant. Brangelina is finally getting married! Lady Gaga wants a baby. Don't forget the new iPad is out. 10 ways to look younger. 10 ways to get rich. Sex sex sex. WHY SHOULD I WORRY ABOUT THESE THINGS?! WHY AREN'T WE WORRYING ABOUT THE BLOODBATH IN OUR BACKYARD?? How are we going to take care of the wounded and orphaned children that are the products of war? What will happen to them? Are our families exempt from this happening to them? Doubtful. The question, then, is WHEN IS THIS GOING TO HAPPEN TO US? In my opinion sooner rather than later, considering all the action happening on the world stage.

WHO HAS THE RIGHT TO HURT OUR CHILDREN?
WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?






Children as Victims -- Good compilation of statistics focusing on the injustice done to children all over the world
boes.org...

I too worry about this issue(s) friend. I feel that so many are becoming desensitized to violence, and empathy is fleeing. Technology, propaganda, and slaves to economic servitude keep so many from connecting with reality it seems. I did a thread today on subconscious war and violence that examines parts of this issue.
We always hear "what about the children," yet when it comes to violence, not enough is done or considered, imo.
You are right too, not only are the current and past tragedies horrific, but the future, is perhaps heading towards the most dangerous of directions, laden with destruction and hate, detachment and coldness.

Thanks for your thoughts on this, it is a paramount subject.

Peace,
spec

reply to post by speculativeoptimist
Thank you for your thoughts and reply. Today I just couldn't take it anymore. I broke down and cried like a little baby because I looked at my children and saw how happy they are. It kills me to take any joy in life when such things are happening.