Miracles, Children and Ranting

The peace and solitude of the womb shattered by the deafening noise of the outside world. Undeveloped eyes gaze upon artificial light for the first time, everything is a blur. We leave our watery domain which we have called home for 9 months and take our first breath in this alien world. Lungs open, fists clenched, feet curled up we release a scream that can shatter crystal and can only be surpassed by a jackhammer. We are alive! We have survived the greatest miracle on earth and we alreadly have to be thankful for so many more miracles.

We are barely a minute old and we have been bestowed in such a short time with a multitude of miracles. Two hands with five fingers, two feet with five toes, ears to hear with, eyes to gaze and a tiny nose to smell with and ofcourse surviving the ordeal of child birth (big up to all our mothers and the women who have gone through the miracle of childbirth you are truely amazing). However people never see the miracles which they have been given. Parents know the heartache of having a sick child and only want their child to be healthy, yet why is that people (family mostly) feel it necessary to comment on the child. Comment not on how perfect a creation she or he may be but on the childs skin colour or the fact that the child is so small or that its going to be like this or like that or that it is an ugly baby. They can never just see past their superficiality and just praise the child everything is about the looks of the child and often babies are compared. I mean they are not toys or stud horses to be compared and rated, they are beings.

The MIRACLE of a baby is astonishing and truely a gift which not everyone gets but nobody would say that just a Baby's cry is a miracle, however imagine a world without a baby's cry. Imagine if the gift or childbearing was taken away from us and the world was devoid of a childs laugh or a baby's cry. What would we do to or pay to experience just this if it was taken away from us? Spare a thought for those who cant have kids and APPRECIATE your own. Today the children of men are taken for granted and thrown away like an empty chocolate wrapper INSIGNIFICANT!

They are seen as a dime a dozen and merely faces on relief aid posters representing a bigger problem which most of us fail to accccept or comprehend. In this world we live in kids grow up always thinking they are less rather than more, our future, our legacy is in shambles.

As they grow up they are not taught to love themselves but are told that they are imperfect and need to be an IDEAL. Kids grow up too quickly worrying about things like their, WEIGHT and if they are too DARK and never experience childhood. Another forgotten miracle is INNOCENCE and its truely lost.Children grow up not to appreciate their blessing but feel inadequate especially if they are teased and made self conscious. They overlook what they have and feel that WHY were they not made "perfect" when they are. Their values warped never to see the good and the great in themselves, trying to emulate the ones that are truely LOST.

The SOUL suffers as the body prospers and we become empty husks of a SPOILT crop. Only worried about how we look we only see the miracles we have when we loose something or someone and by that time it could be too late. Leave the huge miracles but the small thing like a thumb is something to marvel at. Its uses cannot be counted and without it well try hold a cup. We pay thousands of rands for a camera with karl zeiss optics but vision can never be replicated. We walk upright and unaided, we breath air without trying or making an effort yet we cant give thanks.

Children are just but one miracle (in my opinion the greatest) They occur all the time all around us its up to us to acknowledge them and give thanks even for the most minute thing. We need to believe in miracles to see them. Life is not all 3 dimensional there is a 4th dimension the realm where miracles happen all the time. All we have to do is see them but for some of us we are blinded by unadulterated ignorance to anything bigger than themselves. Give thanks for we never know if we will be in the same situation tommorow.

A strong positive mental attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug.
Patricia Neal

Kuwabara, Kuwabara
The Lone Writer

Innocence Lost!

The Middle East (*sigh*) what can I say that hasn't already been said. Just the mere mention of this blood stained part of the world in any context conjures up images of war, suffering and religious tension. Being the birthplace of the the worlds three main religions Islam, Christianity and Judaism it should rather be a place of peace and religious solitude, but we know differently, where religious ideals clash people die. Throughout history it has been embroiled in conflict and I doubt the conflict will end anytime soon.

You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

The disproportionate use of force by Israel against the people of Lebanon is appalling to say the least, they have "Hijacked" a nation, but with The United States of America backing them, condemning them verbally is the best we can do. I have been keeping up to speed with the conflict online and I came across the above photo and thought that to myself that something as innocent as a toy doesn’t belong in that picture.

A toy in essence is something that brings about happiness and joy to children all around the world but to the children in Palestine and Lebanon this is a foreign concept. These faceless souls do not have any toys, all they have are the images of war which they will never forget. They wake not to the sound of their mothers voice but rather to the sound of the bombs crashing down around them which resonates throughout their minute frames. Clutching their ears, tears rolling down their cheeks they try to make sense of what is happening around them, but they cant. No child deserves this, No human deserves this.

Children might or might not be a blessing, but to create them and then fail them was surely damnation. Lois McMaster Bujold, "Barrayar", 1991

Children are amazing in many ways and are very adaptable but in an environment that is inherently wrong on so many levels how can they adapt without loosing their innocence, which is undeniably the hallmark of a child. This war is not their war, they don’t understand what its about or why it is happening, but they are learning about the harsh reality that is their life. Does the life of Israeli soldiers justify destroying the lives of thousands of innocents? How do you quantify either’s worth?

This conflict may end tomorrow or next month, but the scars it will leave will remain for years to come. Many children will be left traumatized, homeless and orphaned as a result of this madness, with nobody to console them and wipe their tears. Forever changed by this conflict, they may harbor a deep seeded anger towards their oppressors. Isn’t it funny that no matter how many so called "Terrorists" they kill, they help to create thousands more?

Kuwabara, Kuwabara
The Lone Writer