Voice
None can tell how many.
What do they know, these children of a [millions] voices? What do they see when they look at me? I know they hunger for food and some place warm to be —Safe — they sigh.
They sigh: blood shot from their Fathers, speckled across their face. Machete splatters stain their feet; Sister, Sisters, their baby Sisters, their Mothers dead.
Children who shift through ashes looking for their pet goat to eat, but find the earth and the rocks too hot to touch. They stumble on other children in the streets: mutilated bodies raped, extremities severed to get jewelry: a rhinestone something, a plastic toy bracelet, a sacred heart of Jesus pin from school. They sigh.
The children sigh like they are telling me to go to hell. They look for weapons to aim at me; anything: sticks turn into rifles, rocks into grenades; dangerous hungry survivors alive in this moment only, unable to think of a plan. Hunger stalks worse than fear, death stalks from every door.
It’s easy to see how hate seeds across generations. The face of the man who butchered an Uncle, the face of the boy with a gun at his shoulder, laughing, pointing at the Aunt. The children keep these images deep in their minds — for the future.
Nowhere, however, do I see any one of them take their own lives.
Over eighty countries in the world are at war. In Syria alone, according to I AM SYRIA’s online website, from 2015 to 2017 [3 years], a total of 7,725 children died due to war. This is only a total of deaths recorded.
When we look at the war list: Afghanistan [2001-Present], Iraq [2003-Present], Syria [2011-Present], Yemen [2015-Present], Somalia [1991-Present], Nigeria [2009-Present], South Sudan [2013-Present], Ukraine [2014-Present] — the tip of the iceberg, and consider the number dead and the proportion of children dead, it is difficult to a reasonable mind to comprehend.
The ethereal illusion of how wonderful life is, and all that can be achieved, and we can thank our lucky stars we are part of it …. Tell it to one of these kids.
If anyone has an answer, something that might work, donate a blanket and a loaf of bread, than give us a post. Don’t be shy — thousands are dying.Children
Michael Stang 2019
