Tangled in bicycles, candy rotten teeth, slipping off slides, and laughter induced stomach pain. These are the only kind of cruelties a child must be exposed to. Bicycles, candy, slides, and laughter, we even protect our kids from these amiable factors.
Being a child signifies innocence, it signifies naivety, it signifies dependence, and it signifies peace. It signifies all those things we tend to loosen up on as we walk on with life. Being young seems easy, think about our trips to the park, our uncomplicated relationships, our oblivious outlook on life, and our lack of responsibility, but we forget why we always wanted to grow up. Children are smothered in ambivalence, from the tiniest of issues such as why cats chase mice, to bigger issues like who they are, why the world is divided into countries, why do wars take place when you can sort it out with a coin flip, and why do criminals commit heinous crimes.
We, as adults, have flawed methods of raising a child. We’ll address the questions we can give easy answers to, but never the ones that seem too hard to explain. Let’s say someone does explain the realities of this world for precautionary measures to a young one, he/she would have to deal with a life time of carping by the masters of a hypocritical society.
I don’t mean to imply that we should screen films of war for our children for the sake of exposure, I for one fall on the anti-violent end of the spectrum, but to make them as ignorant as an ostrich with its head in the ground, only to have it unfamiliar with how to tackle situations, would be a crime on our part.
Unfortunately, no matter how well-suited you have your child for the best and worst situations that camouflage uniform can be ripped apart in seconds by what we know as people.
The very recent discovery of appalling levels of child abuse in Pakistan has the nation’s jaws dropped and tear ducts weak. Those children weren’t just forced into acts of sexual display, they had their innocence struck out like pulling a strand of hair out of butter. They weren’t just forced to emulate scenes of lust, they were asked to embrace normality in objectifying bodies. They weren’t just tortured, they’ve been tuned to neither fear experiencing pain, nor fear inflicting pain. Minds that haven’t learnt to process their thoughts were intoxicated before maturity; bodies that haven’t grown were intoxicated to the ground.
A child’s memories should consist of shooting their first basketball hoop or knowing the answer to a question in class, which would make a loved one proud, not inhumane acts smothered in perversion and forceful violence that were sold off at cheap prices as entertainment to a market no better than the offenders.
These groups of child abusive pornographers did not commit a crime which lived a short life. They didn’t do the children the favor of just pulling the trigger. They took away their lives, their family’s lives, their milk-bathed personalities and spotless minds. We can sit here exhaling a sigh of relief for the children’s rescue, but little do we know that their hardships are immortal from now. It’s one thing to hope for recovery from a trauma, it’s another case when you’re 6 years old and the trauma defines who you are.
How will we ever return their childhood years? How will we tell them right from wrong when they’ve lived in an environment of all that is wrong? How will we put them to peace when they’re constantly swimming in a maelstrom?
The confusing part is, where and why did the demand of such entertainment and abuse rise from? Our society is floating on top of frustrated men who would go beyond any lengths to fulfill their desires. These people were denied any sort of education and our country exempted them of all morals and values as they’re men, and men can do as they please without judgment. God forbid someone raise a finger against their impious behavior, the retaliation they’d respond with would be beyond what we call violent. We raise our men to justify all that is wrong to tend to their whims. They’re let loose, like a lion that’s been let it out of its cage, and prey on anything in their way, even children. I doubt they treat children as human, rather like puppets they can pull their strings on, which makes them easy targets.
Children have been taught to obey, so they’re easy targets. Children haven’t built up into the people they’re meant to be and can be molded into what you want them to be, so they’re easy targets. But only cowards aim for easy targets. They’re afraid to throw the boomerang too far as they know it will only hurt them.
The country will fall into a tumult of protests following this unfortunate incident, but no one will work for a solution. People will share the news, express their disgust, and then move on with their lives. You can’t really blame them for taking on such methods, they feel helpless in these situations and expect a spoon-fed guideline as to how they should fix these things. But the truth is bitter, the solution can’t be achieved with a day’s protest, it’s a long process stretched over years and years, as it involves evolution of our mindsets, and minds aren’t changed in a day.
We don’t realize that our society’s foundation is cracked due to the lack of importance we put on education, and the hypocritical standards we instill in each other’s minds. So truth be told, such matters will surface every now and then, such crimes will be reported every years months, such disgust will be felt before we can move on from the last incident, but better to start now for amelioration than later.
The victims of the APS attack witnessed a black day, these children experienced a few black years.