#StudentsatAntioch Reflect on the Horrific Truths About War
The picture of the Syrian boy in the ambulance is very powerful for a few reasons. The first reason is obvious, it’s a young child covered in blood sitting in an ambulance. It makes you ask yourself, why is he covered in blood? Why is he sitting in an ambulance? What happened? It reminds us of the horrible truth about war. Just because people aren’t part of a war, it might be hard to imagine what really goes on. In other words, innocent children and women being killed. If we take time to really think, and in this case see, about the people who are affected by war maybe we can come up with ways to make a difference for the innocent people being killed.
Alicia Briggs:
What is it about the haunting face of a child injured by war that makes us stop and take a pause? That makes us care? It’s easy for people who do not live in a war zone to just push what is happening all over the world out of their minds. It’s easy to not want to talk about it, to not feel the need to acknowledge it, to even contribute to the conflict and hatred. Then an image like this comes forward and refuses to be ignored. We can try to debate these things logically, and politically. We can try to have these conversations removed from the reality of what we are discussing, until we cannot.
Human beings, like this little boy, are paying the cost. These things are real, and lives are being affected, torn apart, and taken by them. Lives just as valuable as yours and mine. Lives that could easily any day be yours and mine. These haunting images might make us take a pause, but when will they really be absorbed into the collective unconscious? How many people need to die before we can learn to take that pause before creating these disasters?
Kyran Million:
The boy in the Ambulance is a new face of terror. The climactic and horrific event this little boy just survived is how we breed fear and hate. This boy is a example of the millions children victimized in the middle of a religious war where those we are fighting to protect, our children, are the ones who are the ones who are affected the most. How will this boy’s emotional scars be healed after his body is restored? How are we happy with the diplomacy that we say will keep freedom safe when all it does is spread pain and suffering. He can’t possibly understand what has happened, or rationalize the extreme concepts of political regimes who deem him a threat and his loved ones threats. We need to stop killing or we will only create more problems.
Lia Durham:
He looks like a zombie. Like he’s wearing stage makeup. But he’s not. This is real. His little legs can’t touch the ground. His legs are so short that they barely bend when he is sitting. He’s stunned, in full shock with a blank stare and it’s heart breaking. It truly breaks my heart. When I first saw the picture it didn’t look real and then watching the video tears began to well up in my eyes. When he touches the wound on his head and looks at the blood on his hands, you can see it hit him, the confusion of what has happened and why.
Dylan Broyles:
The picture of the Syrian boy in the ambulance is very powerful for a few reasons. The reason is the obvious, it’s a young child covered in blood sitting in an ambulance. It makes you ask yourself, why is he covered in blood? Why is he sitting in an ambulance? What happened? Of course these are the questions someone would ask it there was no text or descriptions of the image. Other than that it reminds us of the horrible truth that about war. Just because people aren’t by a war, it might be hard to imagine what really goes on. In other words, innocent children and women being killed.
Oscar Carleson:
The boy reminds me of a young Anakin Skywalker, covered by dust from his home planet of Tatooine. Acts of evil can radicalize the purest of souls. It can turn Anakin into Darth Vader. It can turn ordinary Germans into Nazis. It can turn young Muslims into living bombs. It can simply turn all good into evil. So, don’t let the anger pollute your soul. If you do, the dark side wins. Please, join the fight. I know there is a Jedi in each and every one of you.
Marta Waldrop:
A small child, covered in dirt and blood. The dirt from the building that has just collapsed around him as a result of an airstrike. The blood from himself or possibly someone else. A small child, trying to wipe confused tears from his eyes, only to find that his cheek is covered in blood, not salty water. A small child, sitting on a bright orange ambulance seat with his world collapsing around him. When will we realize that this child should not be there. When will we realize how messed up this is? Or will we just once again shut our eyes and wait until that gnawing feeling in our guts goes away?
Quentin Dupouy:
Since the civil war in Syria started in 2011, between 270,000 and 470,000 Syrians have perished. Among them, a lot of men, women, and children that had absolutely nothing to do with all the violence that has taken over this part of the world. Even more importantly, the number of children that have only grown up knowing the crisis hasn’t stopped growing. The picture that you see above only describes a small portion of the horror that is occurring as we speak.
Vergard Vaagnes:
How much suffering is too much suffering? Is this the kind of future you wish upon your own? The world has seen “powerful” image after “powerful” image, reactions are provoked but, are actions being taken? By the looks of it, things are still pretty much the same. The scene or situation around the episode will get some attention, but the attention dies out almost as quickly as it went viral. Every now and then a powerful image of a child’s life lost at the hands of something he is not to blame for. Seeing the innocent suffer time and time again for the actions of others, be they morally just or unjust, its just not fair.
Jeff Kong:
War without Love
Little kid is injured in the war
Only destroys a country, also collapses a life.
Victim in ambulance is ignoring the fire.
Escape the remains and go to the next page?
