The loss of innocence

Dawood is his name. A 15 year old boy. 

He had attended a family function the previous day and his alarm had failed to ring the next morning. The result - He had to miss school. 

This just seems like a pretty normal activity out of a student's life, right?

Now read this.

Dawood is his name. A 15 year old boy.

He had attended a family function the previous day and his alarm had failed to ring the next morning. The result - He had to miss school. The Army Public School at Peshawar. The school where 148 people (133 students) were killed that day. His IX standard classroom had been subject to a suicide bombing leaving him the only survivor of his class. 

The only survivor when every single one of his classmates had died. The only survivor when six of his closest friends had died. 

Dawood, according to the news report, had not spoken a single word ever since he had heard about the attack on his school and the death of his classmates. He had become SILENT.

And that ended the childhood of another unfortunate child.



Of the many beautiful lines The Kite Runner is filled with, one of my favorite and one of the most unfortunate line goes - "There are a lot of children in Afghanistan, but little childhood".

A single attack at Peshawar has done a very similar thing to the children of Pakistan. 133 killed and the fortunate-to-be-alive ones - scarred and haunted for the rest of their lives. 

Would a child, filled with dreams of becoming a doctor, have imagined that it would lie in a pool of blood on its classroom floor holding onto its dear life, surrounded by dead friends? Would a child, filled with dreams of becoming an artist, have imagined that the only image that would become etched on its mind forever would be the one of its teacher tied to a chair and set on fire, screaming for help? Would a child, filled with dreams of becoming a police officer, have imagined that it would be left to run for its life as a friend was being shot down a few meters away? 

We pride ourselves of having invented vaccines to eradicate polio and small-pox. What about a vaccine for such attacks that leave a child crippled for the rest of its life?

It hurts. A lot.

It hurts knowing that every single fortunate survivor of this attack would go through every day henceforth at school with constant fear. It hurts knowing that even the ringing sound of the school bell would henceforth traumatize some poor kid. It hurts knowing that a kid has to go through his entire life constantly being reminded that he was the only survivor when his entire class was blown to pieces.

And what crime did they commit?
They happened to be at school.


"Education is the key to unlock your golden door of freedom" goes a quote. True enough.
But if such inhumane acts are about to follow, I would suggest that the children be deprived of their education rather than their childhood. 

Because, the last thing this world needs is an endangerment to childhood.

I know that this is not the solution. And I know that I am terribly wrong.
But honestly, should they be forced to face the harsh realities of this world at so early an age?

Abso-f**king-lutely not.

Let them have their own worlds of superheroes and cartoon characters and video games. Let them have their own worlds of pixie fairies and teddy bears and glittering gowns.
Let them have their own worlds of eraser-attached pencils and glass sharpeners and scented glue.

Let us leave them out of our world. The world of politics and religion and bloodshed.
Their hearts are way too pure for it.