Political

I Heard Children Cry

16 April

Not Because of Hunger, But Because Death Was At Their Front Door

“I’m not political.”
“Gas is so high.”
“I don’t watch the news; it’s too depressing.”

We say things like this so casually. And to an extent, I get it. I stopped watching the news years ago. I’m an overly sensitive person, and the news is heavy. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that being educated is not just about what you studied in university, knowing geography, being cultured across different nationalities, or reading for pleasure.

But it’s also about being informed and staying informed about what is happening in the world around you. Not just in your city. Not just in your country. Because while we’re choosing not to engage, the rest of the world is still living through it.

“A whole civilization will die tonight.” A tweet coming from a sitting president.

And the reality is, for some people, that doesn’t sound dramatic. It sounds like a possibility. So while I had a general understanding of what was happening in Iran and Israel, I knew it wasn’t enough. A surface-level awareness felt irresponsible.

It became imperative for me to take my sensitive self and actually do a deep dive into what is happening.

The Reality Behind The Screen

This isn’t just “conflict.” This is the reality of war.

Recent escalations between the United States, Israel, and Iran have led to widespread destruction, airstrikes, and retaliation across the region. Civilians are being displaced. Families are being separated. Lives are being lost. And while headlines try to summarize it in a few sentences, the reality is far more devastating than anything we can fully grasp from a screen.

Because these aren’t just numbers.
These are people.
These are children.

I watched the videos I usually avoid.
I listened to the cries of people who were afraid.

And my heart broke.

But like many of us, I watched it all from a place of privilege.
From a small screen.
From the safety of my phone.

Not with my own eyes.
Not with the sound of sirens around me.
And not with death at my front door.

When It Becomes More Than Politics

When innocent people are dying, especially children, it should never be reduced to strategy, power, or politics. There is nothing strategic about a child losing their life. There is nothing justifiable about fear becoming someone’s daily reality.

And as someone who believes in God; I struggle with how easily violence can be defended in the name of protection, control, or even “greater good.” Because no matter how it’s explained, no matter how it’s justified, killing innocent people will never feel aligned with anything Christ-like.

And maybe that’s the tension.

Because what do you do when the reality of war becomes this heavy?

You can’t unsee it.
You can’t unknow it.

But you also can’t carry the weight of the entire world. So maybe the answer isn’t to have all the right opinions. Maybe it’s not about having the most informed political stance.

Maybe it starts with simply choosing not to look away. To care, acknowledge, and sit with the reality that this is happening to real people in real time. Because these aren’t just headlines. This is someone’s life.

I don’t have all the answers.

But I do know this; there are children crying, not because they’re hungry, but because death is at their front door.

And I can’t help but ask myself…What does it say about us that this is the reality of war that we can so easily scroll past?