Little Fighters
"We will fight for justice", he said with wisdom beyond his years. It was not some hypocritical statement made in a moment of ambition - unfortunately, he means it. I remember reading that one of the most heartbreaking sights someone saw was a 10 year old boy carrying a set of bricks when he's actually supposed to carry a book. How much more devastating it is then, I wonder, seeing a 10 year old carrying a gun and going to wage war?
I happened to see an interview that a terrorist organization proudly put up on the internet where a radicalized, bright young man was valiantly holding up modern destructive weapons and spelling out with perfect calmness the sentence with which I started this post, along with the goals of the organization that he is a part of now, which , no doubt was taught to him at a very young age with much romanticization of the cause. The politics of using child soldiers is deep and made with consideration of our juvenile justice system. But we cannot absolve our responsibility by blaming these technicalities, because all of this would not have been possible without the mini versions of radicalisation taking place within our everyday lives.
When we tell our children about a family feud intensely villainizing the other party - we are unconsciously creating an other. When we urge our children to show patriotism by displaying animosity to the other - we cement hostility. And we do this, day by day, to our children. Most teenagers have an other they hate. I am all for healthy disagreement and plurality of ideas but what I'm against is the way infested with hate that is sought to deal with them.
As a part of an NGO visit, I had to collect a few children (3 to 8) years to engage in a game. When I went to collect some children, the others told me very clearly, "Didi, these people come from the other area, they don't play with us". Even they were systematically taught this divide. The children even resisted dropping younger children to their homes because they belonged to other communities.
So this comes as a mental note to self also, to not encourage hate against anyone. Only when we're sure that we don't instigate violence in our immediate surroundings, can we really make a huge and cry about some terror organisation using children to further their horrific ends.
NB: This might seem like a repetition of an earlier post but I am genuinely shocked about the prevalence of hate in my generation and resulting issues.
I happened to see an interview that a terrorist organization proudly put up on the internet where a radicalized, bright young man was valiantly holding up modern destructive weapons and spelling out with perfect calmness the sentence with which I started this post, along with the goals of the organization that he is a part of now, which , no doubt was taught to him at a very young age with much romanticization of the cause. The politics of using child soldiers is deep and made with consideration of our juvenile justice system. But we cannot absolve our responsibility by blaming these technicalities, because all of this would not have been possible without the mini versions of radicalisation taking place within our everyday lives.
When we tell our children about a family feud intensely villainizing the other party - we are unconsciously creating an other. When we urge our children to show patriotism by displaying animosity to the other - we cement hostility. And we do this, day by day, to our children. Most teenagers have an other they hate. I am all for healthy disagreement and plurality of ideas but what I'm against is the way infested with hate that is sought to deal with them.
As a part of an NGO visit, I had to collect a few children (3 to 8) years to engage in a game. When I went to collect some children, the others told me very clearly, "Didi, these people come from the other area, they don't play with us". Even they were systematically taught this divide. The children even resisted dropping younger children to their homes because they belonged to other communities.
So this comes as a mental note to self also, to not encourage hate against anyone. Only when we're sure that we don't instigate violence in our immediate surroundings, can we really make a huge and cry about some terror organisation using children to further their horrific ends.
NB: This might seem like a repetition of an earlier post but I am genuinely shocked about the prevalence of hate in my generation and resulting issues.
Comments
Post a Comment