Thursday, June 19, 2014

Doomed

I'm not an overly sensitive guy, but when I saw the image below I got a little choked up.


What's so emotionally powerful about a picture of a bunch of kids going to church? Why did it affect me so much?

Part of it is because I'm a sucker for sweet, innocent children.

No, I'm not a pedophile. I like little kids for the same reason I like puppies and kittens. They see things through optimistic, buoyant, unspoiled eyes. The world is fresh and new to them. That's so refreshing to a jaded cynic like me.

But the biggest reason the picture hit me so hard is the realization that I'm looking at a group of doomed children.

Given where those kids live, the likelihood of them surviving unscathed into adulthood is slim - or more realistically, none. The radical islamists who run things over there will see to that.

The list of incidents in the ongoing campaign of violence and intimidation waged by islamists against Christians is long and depressing. I don't know whether to bless the parents for having the courage of their convictions, or curse them for condemning their children to a future full of uncertainty at best, and bloodshed at worst.

All I know is that I'll say a prayer for the kids, their families, and everyone else caught up in that ancient conflict.

Although given the millions of prayers that have been offered over the last few thousand years, I'm not sure what difference one more will make...

2 comments:

Home on the Range said...

Every day I say a little prayer of thanks that I was born in the U S of A, even more so being female. Thank you for reminding me.

CenTexTim said...

Brigid - It's so easy for us to forget how blessed we are to live here. We take so many things for granted that people in other parts of the world are literally dying for.