The Suffering of Children
Somewhere in Darfur, in a makeshift tent, among the millions of starving and the diseased sits a boy just barely 9 years old. Three years ago, when he was just 6, he was made to watch the massacre of his pregnant mother, the rape of his 11 year old sister and the butchering of his father by Arab Janjaweed militia men.
Now, even as he sits in the relative safety of the encampment, he can see visions and hear the screams around him until it transforms into a piercing ring in his ears. That's when he would collapse in an uncontrollable fit. Hungry and utterly destitute, he now waits. For what, he does not know. He is only 1 of the millions of confused, displaced, homeless and scared children of the world
Two thousand miles to the east, in a dimly lit apartment in Maafannu, a girl cowers in a corner clutching a pillow for protection. Tonight, he will come, he will offer some useless gift as usual, then he will talk and then it will begin. The pain will begin. She knows what to do. She would close her eyes, transport herself faraway, forget about the violation committed on her fragile body while fighting the tears that never cease. For 3 years since she was 6 this man, her uncle, a trusted and respected family man has sexually abused her. The pain and mental anguish is unbearable now.
Now, secretly, in the darkness that has shrouded her mind, she dreams of death.
To the north, thousands of years ago, a man led his son to a sacrificial altar. His son, confused by the actions of his father, submitted quietly as children often do. Several moments later he was bound-up and laid face down. Terrified and in tears the child looked up at his father who was poised with a knife ready to slit his throat. He closed his eyes as a muffled cry escaped his mouth in anticipation of pain. Then nothing happened. He opened his eyes to see his father, Abraham, had stopped and let go of the knife.
Children face inhumane cruelty, mental trauma and death everyday throughout the world. It is estimated that some 20 thousand children die every day from starvation and preventable diseases. Children, by their very nature, do not understand the reason for their suffering. They do not even have a need to understand. We may justify our suffering by saying that out of our suffering we learn to become better people or become wiser and more knowledgeable. But what use is becoming better and wiser for children?
A serial killer may abduct then rape and kill a child. Christians say such horrors are all part of god’s cosmic plan and that ultimately, somewhere down the line, it will all make sense. Muslims believe that humans were given freewill, the abuse of which will be punished on judgment day. This is all very well. Christians will shrug off such atrocities as god’s plan and Muslims will pray for the fires of hell to burn the killer. But what about the child? Where was her freewill in the intricacies of all these beliefs? And what about the grieving parents of the child? What about the killer who goes on to kill even more, sometimes dozens of children? If this is his test where do all his little victims fit into the scheme of such personalised trials?
Sinning is supposedly the cause of suffering. The Asian tsunami was believed by millions of Christians and Muslims to be god’s punishment for sinful ways. It was such a deadly delivery that it killed thousands of children in an instant along with the few grown-ups deserving of punishment. Why god required the slaughter of thousands of helpless children (the estimate is around 50,000 little expendable children) and spared the material buildings of some mosques, churches and houses to get a point across should be a big question believers of such nonsense should ask themselves.
Throughout history mankind has used the suffering of children to demonstrate their own convictions, commitment to a god (or gods) or to justify their belonging to a group. Ancient tribes sacrificed children to appease angry gods. Tribes murder the children of rival tribes to bring them to their knees. Abraham almost sacrificed his own son to god in a display of absolute submission and in the process traumatizing poor Ishmael (or Isaac).
And it is this suffering of children that can never be justified. No great thinker, no great intellectual, no raving prophet and no religion can justify the suffering and murder of children without making god sound as heartless as the serial killer, as ruthless as the militant leader and as indifferent as the force of the tsunami.
How exactly does one tell the starving child in Darfur that his life is a test? How do we negotiate the great cosmic plan with the suffering of the abused child in Maafannu? Was the sole purpose of life of the victim of the serial killer just that; to be a victim, to be expendable? No great offering of heavenly prizes or the riches of the hereafter can be a worthy price of reconciliation for the life of the innocent and helpless child.
“If the sufferings of children go to make up the sum of sufferings which is necessary for the purchase of truth, then I say beforehand that the entire truth is not worth such a price.” – Ivan to Alyosha in The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Comments
disturbing post...
just one question.
who do u think will survive better in this harsh world?
the protected child who forever lived under his mothers wings?
or the child that has been exposed to and been forced to deal with harsh realities?
im in no way saying that that excuses anything.
its just a thought.
Posted by: bulhaa | December 18, 2007 6:13 PM
Bulhaa, of course. Being raped and beaten prepares a child for the grim realities of life.
You thoughtless woman.
Posted by: Ismail | December 18, 2007 7:40 PM
A common theme in the Maldives, one in every three Maldivian women had experienced some form of sexual or physical abuse at the hands of a male as official statistics. I haven't seen any statistics on children who are more prone to these lurking serial abusers who probably thrive in the Maldives.
We as parents shouldn't try to downplay any behaviour which may or even minutely seem to give harm to children, even if it comes within the family tree. I've had several ocassions where when i took my kid out for a walk, strangers would try to interact with the child without the consent from me, a common theme again but unexpectable by the highest order. Maldives need not be a breeding ground for abusers.
Posted by: Mohamed Musthafa | December 18, 2007 11:43 PM
Seems you've become more refined in the dark arts of brainwashing simon...nice
just a thought- why do you see the 50,000 children who died in the tsunami as a loss, if the world is as you say?..is it not salvation for them, while damnation for the thousands of paedophiles & nymphomaniacs who gather annually from all round the world in Phuket,Bali,Goa etc?...the reasoning of the faiths you quote also state that this life isn't everything doesn't it?...death according to them is relative ain't it?...that is not to say the sufferance of some humans over others are justified by God, but it says more about us then it says about God don't it?..I mean according to the reasoning of those you quote of course;please don't make half quotes..
Once again we may seek to understand the 'grand design' and 'purpose' of it all, yada yada..and one may quote-misquote the varied faiths, But to go from that to saying God has abused children to proselytize His message and therefore the absurdity of it all once again negates this God's existance..is a new low for even you.
or am i jus messing with everyone's head here..
Posted by: Dante | December 19, 2007 12:38 AM
:p seems like my previous comment went a bit shallow over the question your post required, but hope it gets noticed.
i'd leave the rest with much enjoyment to read the comments to this one as well.
Posted by: Mohamed Musthafa | December 19, 2007 1:41 AM
Dante,
Yes, refined in the dark arts of brainwashing indeed. Sadly, you'd not be surprised to learn that I may never be able to top the mastery of one particularly efficient type of brainwashing: Religious indoctrination. Now, there's brainwashing at its very finest, isn't it?
I did not say the 50,000 children that died in the tsunami was simply a 'loss'. Yes, it is a loss. But oversimplifying, as you did, the suffering, fear and the pain experienced by helpless drowning children before they died was not my intention. Drowning, I am told, is one of the most terrible ways to die. Calling it simply a "loss" is one way of avoiding the questions of my post. To me anyway.
The world is obviously not a hellhole to every child, dante. To say that death was salvation for the dead children of the tsunami is to say that their lives were horrible to start with. To think like this, is to think of all children as expendable or disposable little beings, ready to be murdered in order to save them from the misery of the world. How can one possibly think that? This is a common way of justifying the murder of children held by religious types (and I'm not saying you are one)...because, as I said in the post, there is no justification for the suffering of children anywhere.
I do not seek to understand the 'grand design' and purpose of it all. As you have noticed I have gone beyond that and have no need to know. So you are completely missing the point. What use is 'grand design' and 'purpose' and all that for a child? Can you tell me?
If you can show me justification for the suffering of children I will remove this post.
Posted by: Simon | December 19, 2007 2:25 AM
Sad but thats the world we are living in Simon. It is not only the children who suffer.What about the mentally ill adult or people who are born with rare conditions such as lisenchephaly? Some of these aren't justifiable either.
Posted by: maldiveshealth | December 19, 2007 6:27 AM
I recently spoke to a councellor who says there are unbelievable numbers of young women who have been sexually abused at a very young age. Also mentioned that they estimate about 1 in every 3 women has been sexually abused at a young age. And according to her councelling does help but the fear lives with them forever.
The harsh reality is these child abusers live in this community without being punished properly.
You are right "this suffering can never be justified".
Posted by: Personal Trainer | December 20, 2007 3:08 AM
Please don't remove this post. What about freedom of speech?
Posted by: Loophole | December 20, 2007 1:55 PM
Child abuse is rampant as parents or guardians dont care and are after their own needs and wants.
Posted by: frolicsomes | December 21, 2007 12:21 AM
Simon, I like your articles and the problems you bring up are relevant.
However, please don't concoct imaginary stories to bring about your point. It sort of diminishes your effort. There is enough suffering in the world to tell your story.
Posted by: kess | December 21, 2007 10:41 PM
bro ... a really good post ...
like your writing style ...
i had a mental image of a world map and a view of male' when i was reading it ...
more importantly ... i relate to your story ...
i remeber a few years back ... when a girl told me how she was repeated violated by her step dad when she was younger... (at that time, these kinda stories were like unheard of, so i listened on not knowing if i should believe her or not) ...
story goes that she told her mum about it ...
her mum couldn't even listen and in a fit of rage slapped her hard across the face and told her not to make up stories about the bread winner of the family ...
so the girl stopped ... she stopped complaining and she started to accept it as something that needs to be done to keep her mum happy and and her family together ...
now ... years later ... the girl is married with a kid on the way... come to think of it ... she still lives in the same house as her step dad ...
apparently he is a respected businessman ... from a nearby island ...
i dunno about anybody else ... but every time i see the guy ... i feel like i wanna personally deliver a few right upper cuts spot on his jaw ...
so ... i'll agree with you in a heartbeat when you say ... there is no justification for the sufferings of children ...
where ever ... when ever ...
Posted by: subcorpus | December 22, 2007 2:25 AM
There is no justification for any injustices that the people are facing in this country- be it the children, women, old people or youth, you name it- and there are no solutions to these problems until a legal system and legitimate goverment is put in place by the people in lieu of this brutal regime.
The sad fact is people are being so much brutalized by this regime, that they no longer has a will and resolve to face the uncertain future. Thier faith so much weakened that they sometimes act unconsciously in very stupid manners as of fulfilling thier shortcomings of religious duties.
The vote at the Special Majlis to keep all Maldivains Muslim was one such Act. It was not a Divine intervention as stated by Hussein Rasheed Ahmed of Adhaalth Party. Those members who voted for the bill knew, as well as anybody else, what they were doing was stupid. But to convince themselves, that they still have some religion in them, they did it. It was nothing more than sheer psychological pressure that did it. Of course a radical like Hussein Rasheed will call it Divine Intervention. Why is there no Divine Intervention when this heinous dictator brutalises one whole nation in the name of religion and nationhood? Is it because God works in mysterious ways or he has some grander design?
What is the use of a religion and a nation if they do not protect the people that are the very basic elements of this nation and religion? Without a people no religion or nation can exist.
Posted by: Suhail | December 22, 2007 1:14 PM
In the koran allah says that he does not need people but that we need him.
Posted by: Suraj | December 22, 2007 8:14 PM
Simon, nice article..
Of course u do knw tht throughout history, the slaughter or sacrifice of something precious or more often helpless has always sanctified and uplifted every diety that man has so far believed in..
It is, as some wud say, a test of 'faith'.. A test of the believers steadfastness and strength..
Wonderful isnt it?
Sometimes the act is recommended by the Priest/Soothsayer/Shaman/WitchDoctor or tht diety's temporary avatar on the land.. otherwise such 'advice' is found in dreams and other apparitions..
Children suffer mostly becoz they are in the care of ignorant adults and disgusting cultures..
Simon, in your post.. I think u missed a most praiseworthy point of note... The brilliant recommendations by African witchdoctors and shamans, of penetrative sexual intercourse with infantile virgin children as an effective means of curing HIV.. This abhorrent act leaves no child safe from HIV in Africa..
All inadvertently thanks to the Late Pope..
Who with his holy and godly intellect impugned the act of contraceptives as an desecration of God's plans to procreate and populate the earth..
N wat did the largely Roman Catholic Africans do..?
Obey the holy father of course..
Leaving thousands of HIV infected men women and helpless children in the aftermath...
All in the name of religion.. :)
Lovely isnt it?
Posted by: FuzenTenshi | December 25, 2007 8:08 PM
very nicely put.
Posted by: If | December 26, 2007 2:04 AM
FuzenTenshi,
Thank you for the comment. There are so many cultures and traditions that involve atrocious acts against children that, I believe, an exhaustive list would be long and depressing. I've heard about the Pope in Africa.
The majority of commenters have missed the point of my post. It is not about child abuse and how it is a prevalent social ill in all societies. I think the lead-up paragraphs may have created a diversion altogether.
Or perhaps they didn't read it to the end. :)
Posted by: Simon
|
December 26, 2007 2:10 AM
Simon, you deny that day is day & that night is night... Something that's so clear as the midday son and yet, you're still blinded by arrogance and the elements of this material world...
You will come to know... You will DEFINITELY come to know...
Posted by: faleel | January 2, 2008 1:52 AM
Ooh! I think Jedi master Yoda made a visit to my blog and left the above comment for me.
Thank you, sir, for your wisdom.
Posted by: Simon
|
January 2, 2008 3:24 PM
Your welcome Mr.Simon...this is also a quote of mine-
“Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes.”
Posted by: Yoda(aka Faleel) | January 2, 2008 9:48 PM
i was reminded of a post i made on my blog some time back... my blog's been dead and buried a while...
http://cafenight.blogspot.com/2006_09_01_archive.html
kind of had a similar thought i guess, only you put it more eloquently simon, as you do...
Posted by: vespy | January 14, 2008 11:09 AM