“Blood was running down [the woman’s] dress and dripping behind her, making a trail. Her child had been shot dead as she ran for her life,” (Beah, 2007). Although graphic, traumatic events like this are common in some parts of the world and it’s the kids who witness and commit them daily. It’s natural to think that events like this should not be happening in 2015. Unfortunately, that’s not a reality. Because it is estimated that 250,000 children in 19 countries around the world are deprived of the childhoods they deserve, are more susceptible to physiological defects, and are are sometimes tried as war criminals, more awareness and money must be dedicated towards stopping child soldiers from being used in war.
These two words child and soldier …show more content…
They have to return to society to truly complete the full rehabilitation process. In Ishmael Beah’s A long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier he refers to when he had become brainwashed. It’s evident when he says “Our innocence had been replaced by fear and we had become monsters and killing had become as easy as drinking water,” (2007). At another point in the book he talks about when he forgot about how many people he killed. The first 10 were hard and most of the first 50 were memorable, but after that it became too many to count (Beah, 2007). Since these kids are brainwashed by war, society needs to discover how to reverse the effects of combat. It’s a tough task when war has been their whole life. They were turned “into killing machines: ...desensitized through drugs and brainwashed into becoming warlike through speeches and Rambo movies...” says Menna G. Khorana an author of many books regarding civil wars in Africa (2014). It’s lamentable that reintegration into society for most of these kids has had little success; especially if they have no family to return to due to separation from the war. In the words of Matthew Karwowski, “Most child soldiers are like lost souls, outlaws from civilized society, with nowhere to go and nothing to lose from a life of war, [or] …show more content…
If the United States and its allies try children, they undercut their ability to help kids around the world who have been in combat. One case of a child soldier being tried is Omar Khadr, who is accused of of throwing a grenade at an American Soldier. Ishmael Beah, who after rehabilitation, became a United Nations International Children 's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) representative for Sierra Leone says “His trial puts all former child soldiers in danger and undermines the tireless work that we have done to show child soldiers can be rehabilitated,” (Romo, 2014). Ishmael is living proof that child soldiers can live in society again. Continuing, he also says that “If we fail in this task, we become victims of the precedents we create,” (Romo, 2014)(Participial Phrase). Imagine a child who is removed from the war, but unable to be rehabilitated. That is exactly what happened for some time to Deogratis or Deo in Tracy Kidder 's book called Strength in What Remains (Relative Pronoun). Deo’s life was changed when his school was torn apart by the civil war that broke out in Burundi. He fled from the war, but not before he committed and saw irreversible things. Luckily, his privileged family had been able to fly him to America just to keep him safe. Unfortunately, he didn’t know any English and didn’t have any money. He slept in Central Park most nights on a bench, but constantly had nightmares about
These two words child and soldier …show more content…
They have to return to society to truly complete the full rehabilitation process. In Ishmael Beah’s A long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier he refers to when he had become brainwashed. It’s evident when he says “Our innocence had been replaced by fear and we had become monsters and killing had become as easy as drinking water,” (2007). At another point in the book he talks about when he forgot about how many people he killed. The first 10 were hard and most of the first 50 were memorable, but after that it became too many to count (Beah, 2007). Since these kids are brainwashed by war, society needs to discover how to reverse the effects of combat. It’s a tough task when war has been their whole life. They were turned “into killing machines: ...desensitized through drugs and brainwashed into becoming warlike through speeches and Rambo movies...” says Menna G. Khorana an author of many books regarding civil wars in Africa (2014). It’s lamentable that reintegration into society for most of these kids has had little success; especially if they have no family to return to due to separation from the war. In the words of Matthew Karwowski, “Most child soldiers are like lost souls, outlaws from civilized society, with nowhere to go and nothing to lose from a life of war, [or] …show more content…
If the United States and its allies try children, they undercut their ability to help kids around the world who have been in combat. One case of a child soldier being tried is Omar Khadr, who is accused of of throwing a grenade at an American Soldier. Ishmael Beah, who after rehabilitation, became a United Nations International Children 's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) representative for Sierra Leone says “His trial puts all former child soldiers in danger and undermines the tireless work that we have done to show child soldiers can be rehabilitated,” (Romo, 2014). Ishmael is living proof that child soldiers can live in society again. Continuing, he also says that “If we fail in this task, we become victims of the precedents we create,” (Romo, 2014)(Participial Phrase). Imagine a child who is removed from the war, but unable to be rehabilitated. That is exactly what happened for some time to Deogratis or Deo in Tracy Kidder 's book called Strength in What Remains (Relative Pronoun). Deo’s life was changed when his school was torn apart by the civil war that broke out in Burundi. He fled from the war, but not before he committed and saw irreversible things. Luckily, his privileged family had been able to fly him to America just to keep him safe. Unfortunately, he didn’t know any English and didn’t have any money. He slept in Central Park most nights on a bench, but constantly had nightmares about