Thursday 24 July 2014

Loss,conflict and the wisdom of children.

It has been an emotional week in the world.
Around the world violent acts have caused heartache for thousands of people.
Sadness and heartache that we can only try to comprehend.
In Australia these acts are usually items on a news bulletin - they shock us, scare us and sometimes horrify us but generally we move on in our island bubble, detached from war and conflict.
Not this week.
This week it became very personal.
And so very sad.
The bombing of flight MH17 and the subsequent deaths of 3 Perth children amongst all of the many others has delivered the consequences of war and conflict into our homes.
The sadness in our house as we mourn a football team mate and a lovely family that we smile and laugh with on Sunday mornings, is nothing compared to their loss and that of the families & friends of every other passenger.
With heavy hearts we feel for them, send them our love and wish that we could do something ease their grief.

There have been many questions and conversations as we all come to grips with the enormity of what has happened.
Our youngest child, who has just turned 8, has been trying to process it all and I wanted to share a conversation that we had the other day.

Miss A: "Mum, why would somebody do that? Why would they bomb a plane?"
Me: "I don't know.  In the world there are people who are just not nice and they do horrible things"
Miss A:  "Are they bullies?"
Me: "Yes I think they probably are"
Miss A: "Maybe they should all think back to when they were little kids.  They should think about what it feels like when somebody is mean to you and how awful you feel.  Then they should remember that feeling and not be mean or horrible to other people.  They should do things that are nice and they should stay on their own sides and be happy with what they have.  Then they won't bomb planes and people won't be sad."

I think she is right.
May this never happen again.

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