War

• Fatima Aberdan, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2015

War is the existence of tragedy, the loss of lives, the destruction of cities. War. War is a word used lightly, signifying loss and devastation. War is a life left to ruins, the inevitable chaos between the ignorant. People who are the exact same creation but refuse to collaborate. The absence of compassion, the absence of consideration. The absence of life.

War is affecting innocent lives daily. War is separating families, war is ripping away the innocence of our children, war is smashing our hopes, our dreams and our ambitions into smithereens. Think about the children out there. Not the ones that switch to the new addition of the iPhone annually, no, not the children living in houses built for their use and no, not the children with everything and anything at their doorstep. I mean those children that are living on their own, walking the street in hope of their next meal. Those children out there that are in the very centre of anarchy, those children that never stop to wonder, why them? Why were they the ones chosen to live a life no one deserves to live? Yes, those children, those innocent beings that have nothing but their hope to guide them. Our next generation, living a life those before them made for them.

My words that I speak are just words. Just words written on paper. Just words everyone agrees to, but no one takes into action. My words that I speak can help people understand the extent of ruin war has made but will those people help. Those charities no one has ever heard of walking our streets seeking money for the supposed victims of war torn Somalia. Those charities holding up pictures of children with flies at their mouths, flies on their eyes. I see those charities everywhere; I see them collect money from people, I see them carry money back to their truck, I see them drive away. I see them; I just don’t see the difference. I don’t see the good they have done to the war torn countries. Do you?

In your mind are those poor souls, the children in war torn countries. Now see that mother, father, uncle and brother. See that mother trying to salvage enough food to feed her family of 7. See that father that got booted out of his only job, that father fighting to keep his family out of harm’s way. See those grandmothers, barely able to take care of themselves and dreading the burden they cause for their kids. See those that are responsible of the lives of their loved ones. Keep that image in your mind.

Now see those people forced to fight a battle that’s not their own. See those victims in war. Now see that leader, turning a blind eye on the suffering, urging his men to be ruthless, to show no mercy. Feel their pain…

War, it’s never good. Imagine you were in a war. Imagine that sort of life.