Pic and caption stolen from Time magazine (Jan 14th):
A schoolgirl astride a toy pony looks up after hearing the sounds of shelling in the war-torn Syrian city of Aleppo. In a new study, the U.N.’s human-rights office estimated that the country’s death toll after 20 months of carnage is about 60,000 – a figure significantly higher than the roughly 40,000 dead that had been reported by Syrian human-rights groups in exile.
This photo could possibly haunt me all night. Being a mama of a little one all the more so.
How do you deal with images like this? Are you able to turn away.. or how do you deal with your conscience?
I feel constantly broken-hearted about painful things happening in the world. I am so much more heartbroken by world events now that I am a mother. For instance, I am so, so devastated by the Sandy Hook tragedy. The children killed were first graders (and my oldest is a first grader.) All over the world, children suffer and it is so very heartbreaking. It keeps me on my knees for sure.
Just had to think about your post while reading “Stern” (German Magazine) 2012 in review looking at a photo of a Syrian boy with his head wrapped in bandages, blood on his neck, and a terrified look on his face. And all I can think of is what his mom must have felt when all she wanted to do was protect her little boy. This is what goes through my head when I see the images. It also reminds me of what my grandma told me “I don’t even wish war upon my worste enemy”