There’s no excuse – it’s a barbaric, primitive approach to life

TO REFRESH memories, a few quotes, descriptions and perceptions before we merely forget and go on to the sport pages – and then the waiting lure of superficial, frivolous social media interaction and spiritless engagement with others.

The ongoing bombing, war and destruction, always audible in the Syrian background, preventing caught people of all sorts physical and psychological escape from hell. One can almost hear the souls of people gasping for air, for life, but to no avail.

Twenty-thousand children that should be at school, deprived of a life.

And those 20 000 at school, how can traumatised children grow into balanced adulthood? Thirty-thousand orphans, many shocked people paralysed by bombs.

Women turning to prostitution to support their children. Blankets, clothing needed because the snow is coming. Baby food needed. Nappies. Syrian mothers raped in front of their children.

Widows. In hospital patients with severe burns, missing legs. Tiny Hearts Village. The biggest orphanage in the world. Children painting their lost houses, dead parents. “Give my love to the people of South Africa”, a 9-year-old girl whispers, smiling gently.

“There is nothing left in Aleppo,” an old man said. This is the world out there when myopic, translate this into cruel, people all pursue their perceived “rightful causes.”

This is the world out there when opposing political factions deem destruction of the other just without moral questioning in depth. This is the world out there when the West, the Russians, “fellow” Islamic countries dissect the moral core of their souls to vent war with no further regard for the people caught in the way of biased bombs and fire-power. There is no excuse. It’s barbaric. It’s a primitive approach to life. It will never leave the successor on high ground.

It will just get the suppressed section to fume for a long time and then meaningless violence will break out again. Perhaps with another victorious group qualifying for shameless honour. Perhaps another sponsoring country will under cover claim international victory.

May I ask you, the reader of these frustrated and shamed words, how can we just go on and gather “small world” security to cover our children, deem our daily endeavours justified and righteous when unjust, shrewdly propaganda and heartless actions of our manoeuvring, so called World Leaders keep killing people, orphan children and never stop maiming them for life?

Do we want to be human or are we satisfied with façades as we, wrapped up in subjective ideologies, applaud “gorillas” (a metaphor, gorillas don’t behave in such a fashion) proudly beating their bursting breasts? Deeming dying people, children, irrelevant to our pragmatic consciousnesses. Wim van der Walt Bellville