Dreams of Children

Forget the generals, the politicians, the grand strategies. Crouch down. Look through the smoke and rubble. See the wide, terrified eyes of a child. This is the true face of war. As missiles rain down in Gaza, bombs shake Ukrainian and Russian cities, and tensions flare globally, we must confront a brutal question, stripped of adult justifications: Is war ever necessary when we measure its cost in stolen childhoods and shattered futures? War isn't abstract for children. It's the deafening explosion that shatters their bedroom window. It's the frantic scramble into a dark basement, clutching a worn teddy bear. It's the empty ache where a parent used to be. It's the relentless fear that replaces the security every child deserves as a fundamental right. The Unforgivable Assault on the "Best Interest of the Child" International conventions enshrine the "best interests of the child" as paramount. War spits on this principle. Gaza: Over 15,000 children...

  In the rubble-strewn streets of Gaza, the crowded refugee camps of Sudan, the hunger-stricken villages of the Sahel, and the silenced classrooms of autocratic states, a haunting question echoes among aid workers, psychologists, and the children themselves: Is daring to dream a moral failing, a cruel "sin," for those born into deprivation?  ✏️ This isn't a question of theology, but of crushing reality. Millions of children worldwide are growing up in environments defined by war, extreme poverty, and political repression – contexts where the fundamental act of childhood imagination and aspiration feels like a luxury they cannot afford, or worse, a source of unbearable pain. The Scars of War: Dreams Interrupted by Trauma Ukraine/Yemen/Syria/Sudan: Children witnessing destruction, displacement, and death face profound psychological trauma. "Dreaming of being a doctor feels like a betrayal when you just saw your sister die from a wound that couldn't be treated,...