20/12/2016 0 Comments Violence isn’t a superpowerLast Friday I was absolutely devastated to hear and see what was going on over the other side to the world. I was faced with images of children and babies covered in dust and blood laying lifeless in the arms of rescuers, or hanging onto their life under the war rubble, I saw children absolutely distraught beyond words after watching their parents die and I saw parents tormented as they learn their children are no longer with them. I feel so guilty and ashamed to say that before Friday I had never even heard of Aleppo, let alone the extent of the horrific things that were taking place in Syria. I was sitting in the car next to Adam crying with a burning feeling in my throat as I scrolled through the images of these poor helpless children and babies and the torture these people were experiencing while my heart physically seized in pain for them. I kept asking Adam why?, to me nothing in this world is worth taking the lives of others especially innocent babies and children and I just dont see the point in causing so much heart ache and havoc. I literally was speechless and I just dont understand. I feel so much guilt and shame when I sat there scrolling through these horrendous images knowing that we will most likely never know their pain and that while they are over the other side of this world enduring the unimaginable, we were over here with our safe, happy babies, getting ready for Christmas and fretting over the worst of our problems, money. I feel sick every time I am faced with one of those images, my throat goes tight and my eyes automatically well up and I wish nothing more than their suffering to stop. Things like this make you feel powerless, no matter how much you want it to stop you feel like everything is beyond your control and the closest many of us will get to it is from what we learn through the media when another disastrous event takes place and our social media accounts are filled up with the distressing images of war struck children, people crippled with trauma and prayers. This morning I woke up with Aleppo on my mind and also learnt of the attack in Berlin that had just happened overnight. It’s so easy for us to turn the TV off, avoid the harsh realities of the latest news and push those horrible images out of our mind. It’s easy for us to forget what is happening to the millions of people around the world as we get so caught up in our own incomparable issues that really are incredibly insignificant on the scale. Its also easy to forget or not even realise that there is also so many other people and countries suffering around the world from war and genocide. “Of the past 3,400 years, humans have been entirely at peace of war for only 268 of them, or just 8 percent of recorded history”, It almost seems that we will never live in a world free of war and genocide. I have spent the morning reading, trying to understand some of the wars currently taking place but honestly no matter how much I try to understand and educate myself I am still confused with how people think that death, chaos and destruction is the answer. At the end of the day and as a citizen of the world its important to be aware of what is constantly going on around the world and to try and implement change starting with our children. We may feel hopeless and powerless against all these current wars around the world that are fueled by hate, revenge and greed but we all have the momentum and the power to educate our children and others and teach them love, acceptance, forgiveness and peace. If we dont try and educate our children, our little ones will grow up thinking that violence and revenge is the way to solve problems thus the cycle will keep going. Teaching our children meaningful virtues, conflict resolution skills and acceptance is the superpower for change.
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