Advanced Essay #3: The Reality of Adults and Children Living in War Zones

People do not realize just how harsh war zones are. They are the things that can make or break a country. War zones have a major influence on people. They add to the stress of people, and can produce insecurities, fear, depression, etc. When children are added to this, it creates a whole different type of problem. Children can become influenced by what they see and hear in their environment. In a violent, militarism environment, children may be drawn to the violence and the mistreatment of others. Children are vulnerable and our actions can leave a print on them that can never be changed.

War zones are hard places to be in. For a lot of third world countries in war zones, families have to live in little spaces, barely getting by in life. “Abu Yahya, his wife and four children are squeezed together on a sofa. This is their living room and now it is also their bedroom. Like most houses in their area, the second floor has been blasted by shells” (Hattenstone, Mahood 2014). This is just one example of what life is like in war zones. This place, in particular, is Syria.. With this family, the dad used to ride through his neighborhood in his truck selling fruit, but now, he cannot do that anymore. The war made it unsafe and impossible for him to just ride around in the streets of his neighborhood. As a result, he and his family are not getting money, cannot properly eat, and do not have enough money to live in a stable home in a safe neighborhood. His children may never know what it is like to wake up every day without having four rockets dropped on their neighborhood every morning. Loud, disturbing noises can cause one to have PTSD, and if that is all these children know, then they are most likely to develop it.

Children are dependant on the adult(s) that provide them care and affection. This attention helps build character in the child. During times of war, they might not get this. “Their attachments are frequently disrupted in times of war, due to the loss of parents, extreme preoccupation of parents in protecting and finding subsistence for the family, and emotional unavailability of depressed or distracted parents” (Santa Barbra 2006). When this happens, the child is left with a substitute guardian whose love is not enough for the child. If these children do not get the affection they need, they have a higher chance of having behavioral, emotional, and social problems as they grow and get older (Harmon 2020).

There are a lot of unjust actions that happen when people are in war zones. Adults and children have a higher risk of losing a limb and becoming paralyzed in a war zone than if they were not in one. Sometimes it is hard to tell whose on which side and as a result bad things happen to innocent people. “Hundreds of thousands of children die of direct violence in war each year. They die as civilians caught in the violence of war, as combatants directly targeted, or in the course of ethnic cleansing” (Santa Barbra 2006). The saying “kill or be killed” comes to my mind with this example. In order to not be killed, soldiers have to take over a lot of land to plant booby traps and keep watch. As a result, schools have become the next battlefields. Children have become the next target to get the enemy’s attention. “Increased fighting in urban areas and the growing use of bombs in densely-populated areas has seen a dramatic increase in the number of children killed or maimed - 73,000 of them in 25 conflicts since 2005. Children are also being targeted with more brutal tactics, such as the use of young people as suicide bombers, said the report The War on Children” (Watt 2018). Since 2005, about 73,000 children have been killed or maimed due to attacks. Children are not meant to be used for escape plans or plan B’s. Children are the future of the world and should be treated better.

In conclusion, innocent people in places where there is an active war are being treated without respect or consideration. Adults are forced to quit their jobs and find another way of making money while children are being forced to commit suicide as a tactic to scare their enemies. It is not right and this has to change. Adults are our mentors and children are future mentors.

Citations:

Hattenstone, Simon, and Mona Mahmood. “Life in a War Zone – Syria.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 5 July 2014, www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/05/life-in-war-zone-syria.

How Does War Child Provide Vital Psychosocial Support to Children?” War Child Holland - How Does War Child Provide Vital Psychosocial Support to Children?,  www.warchildholland.org/psychosocial-support/.

Harmon, Katherine. “How Important Is Physical Contact with Your Infant?” Scientific American, 6 May 2010,

www.scientificamerican.com/article/infant-touch/.

Watt, Ewan. “'Schools and Playgrounds Are Battlefields': One in Six Children Living in Conflict Zones.” Theirworld, Theirworld, 15 Feb. 2018, www.theirworld.org/news/one-in-six-children-live-conflict-zone-attacks-on-schools.