Essay On Innocence Of Child Soldiers

Innocence is the lack of corruption, it is purity. One of the things that come to mind when you think of innocence is children. Children are unaware of the horrors of the world and they are still pure in mind and spirit. As kids in America we were very lucky to be able to have our innocence for as long as we can. However, in countries like Sierra Leone they are not given a choice, they lose their innocence at a very young age. Children in Sierra Leone and other areas around the world can be as little as 5 and have seen someone they know get their head blown off. It is something that can really affect a young child’s development. These children are also exposed to massive amounts of drugs, including snorting “brown brown” which was a combination of cocaine and gunpowder. These children not only saw horrific things and did awful drugs, they sometimes have to partake in the madness and become child soldiers. Imagine as a young kid, being 7-8 years …show more content…
For every Ojok Charles and Ishmael Beah there are thousands of innocent children who become monsters and never get to regain their innocence and live good lives. The losing of innocence of child soldiers is a major problem in the world and more should be done to combat this epidemic and help the children of Sierra Leone, Congo, Syria and other countries across the world from being exposed to the horrors of conflict at such a young age. Also for the children who have already been exposed we need to do more for them in helping them cope with their actions and what they saw while fighting. It may seem like these children's have lost their innocence forever but if the stories of people like Ojok Charles, Ishmael Baeh, and others have taught us anything it's that people are good and they can come back and re purify themselves no matter what the severity of their past