While millions of kids across different nations and countries are living a normal and a happy life (all kids deserve this) and getting their wishes fulfilled by their family and friends, there are innumerable kids across many war-hit countries and zones who are losing their childhood and the charm of innocence amidst the gun-shots, bombings, bloodshed, killing, relentless and ceaseless violence. These unfortunate kids have transformed into live examples of the destruction and distress caused by a war. One such example that recently floated across the internet and sparked outrage among the people is a five-year-old boy named Omran Daqneesh who was rescued from a rubble caused by military strikes in Aleppo, one of the worst-hit cities of Syrian Civil War.
The Aleppo Media Centre (AMC) released a footage showing a small boy being rescued and carried away by a man from rubble and being placed in the back of an ambulance. The bloodied and disoriented boy, covered with dust from head to toe and completely unaware of the open wound on his head, stared with eyes as void as death and hopelessness, while the photographers could be seen capturing his snaps. The boy, recognized to be a five-year-old named Omran Daqneesh, survived a military strike in the rebel-held Qaterji neighborhood. The boy did not cry or speak, nor displayed any sign of discomfort and pain, instead, rubbed his face and head, only to see his little palm smeared with blood before wiping it on the chair. His family, including his parents and three siblings, also survived the military strikes.
The Syrian boy everyone's talking about: heart-wrenching video of child pulled from rubble captures horror of Aleppohttps://t.co/kfv4bKr5sf
— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 18, 2016
The footage shows absolute disparity and havoc created by war, here the Syrian Civil War. Lost childhood, abnormal child behaviour, and blank eyes narrates the real picture and turbulence in the lives of people that a war creates. If at all, any day, any innocent war victim raises the voice and asks “Why me?”, who can possibly give a logical explanation as to why his / her childhood was forcefully taken away and replaced only by memories of intense horror.
Another such incident saw global outrage when a three-year-old Syrian refugee named Alan Kurdi was found dead when his lifeless body washed-up to a Turkish beach. The cause of death was drowning in the Mediterranean Sea when his family made an attempt to reach Europe amid the European Refugee Crisis. The images of both incidents have drawn a close comparison with one another.
These incidents and examples raise many questions in the perturbed minds of people, out of which an important one is “When, when will it stop?”. The horrific situations raise doubts on our own sanity and existence as to how mankind became so blood-thirsty that it overlooked the havoc and the irreparable loss. Wars have already claimed millions of lives and property. If this is not the time to stop and join hands in unity, peace and love, when will? The world does not want to see another Alan Kurdi or Omran Daqneesh suffer in despair; instead we, the people of the world, would like to see beaming faces and twinkling eyes filled with vivid dreams and expressions of joy, just like these lyrics of the song “Winds of Change” from the album ‘Crazy world’ and sung by the Scorpions.
“Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams
With you and me
Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
in the wind of change”
