Be Grateful This Christmas: Children in War

Historic Images of Children; A Reminder For Christmas!

Photo by Marina Shatskih on Unsplash

Frankly, I don't have the answers. If the answer were that easy, children wouldn't be dying worldwide. Or not; after all, some gain from wars. What was it President Dwight Eisenhower warned us about all those years ago? Oh yes, the Military-Industrial complex. That's for another day. My point today is related to Christmas or Xmas, depending on your preference. When asked what people want for Christmas, it is common to say, 'Peace on earth and goodwill to all men (and women and children).' Add to that oft-heard quote the big fun at Christmas is watching the children's reactions. Christmas should be a joyous occasion. And for many of us, it is. The children remind us of what we loved about Christmas as children. After all, they were us many years ago.

And yet, the humanitarian aid charity Save The Children reports in 2021, more than 450 million children worldwide — or 1 in 6 — were living in a conflict zone, a 5% increase from 2019 and the highest number in 20 years. Yes, you read it right. More than 450 million children worldwide live in terror and have to endure all manner of physical, emotional, and mental health issues that no doubt will affect them for the rest of their lives.

And so, what's my point? Just a reminder, if you need one, to be more grateful than ever this holiday season for the family and children you have around you. Children in the past have suffered, and children in the present continue to suffer. Sadly children in the future will suffer in more significant numbers. War kills, an obvious statement, I know. War kills children too. It also kills their future. In doing so, it kills the world's future.

Nothing I write will add to the historic and horrendous images below, so I won't. However, this gallery contains graphic images. Viewer discretion is advised.

Luceyn Kifretune, a nine-year-old Syrian girl who lost four of her family and had her face permanently scarred in a barrel-bomb attack (Getty)

In one of the most famous images of the Vietnam War, South Vietnamese forces follow terrified children, including 9-year-old Kim Phuc (center), as they run down Road №1 near Trang Bang after an aerial napalm attack on suspected Viet Cong hiding places, June 8, 1972. The photograph of nine-year-old Kim Phuc running away from a napalm attack deepened the unpopularity of the Vietnam war.' Photo: Nick Ut/AP

An albino boy in a Biafra orphanage, 1969. Photograph: Don McCullin/Imperial War Museum North

Jewish children surrendered to German soldiers following the collapse of resistance in the Warsaw ghetto in Poland in 1943. Photograph: AP

In this still taken from video footage by the Aleppo Media Centre, Omran Daqneesh sits in an ambulance after being pulled from a building hit by an airstrike in eastern Aleppo. Photo: Aleppo Media Centre

Young Down Syndrome victims of 'Aktion T4' in 1934 — a means of mass murder by involuntary euthanasia in Nazi Germany. (Heilanstalt Schönbrunn bei Dachau. — SS-Foto, 16.02.1934)

In this October 1, 2018 photo, a malnourished boy sits on a hospital bed at the Aslam Health Center, Hajjah, Yemen. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)

A small South Korean child sits alone in the street after elements of the 1st Marine Division and South Korean Marines invaded the city of Inchon in an offensive launched against the North Korean forces in that area. September 16, 1950. Photo by Pfc. Ronald L. Hancock. (Army)

Marina Yatsko, left, runs behind her boyfriend Fedor carrying her 18-month-old son Kirill who was killed in shelling, as they arrive at a hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, Friday, March 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

As her boyfriend, Fedor, looks on, Marina Yatsko with her son Kirill after he dies. (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo)

Of course, I could have added thousands of other images; however, the purpose is not meant to be a gory sideshow. Instead, an image can help place us in someone else's shoes, just for a moment.

"A great man [or woman] shows his greatness by the way he treats little men," [including children], once wrote Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher Thomas Carlyle.

If we all treat little children with love, we could start treating each other the same way. Happy holidays to you all!

© Stephen G. Arrowsmith 2022

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