Phantom Limbs


One day, you're playing in the yard or sitting in a classroom with your best friends, and the next, your world falls apart. Life can throw many hardships at you, and it is up to you to make the best of them and move forward. However, when you’re a child and don’t understand why things are happening, you hope that things will get better. Yet, that is not the case for the devastated children living in the occupied country of Palestine.

Over the past two years, they have had to mature quickly and cope with bombs destroying their homes, killing their families, and leaving some without certain limbs, all through no fault of their own. The rubble is everywhere, and sometimes they can hear moans coming from beneath the debris and frantic efforts by countrymen trying to save the injured. They ask why, and no one has an answer because speaking out can get them targeted again. Adding to the confusion, they cry out for medication to relieve the pain but are told none is available. 

How could this happen to a child? The key lies in understanding why it happened in the first place and why nothing has been done about it. Let’s assume that this was an American child. I know, you’d say that this is unthinkable given our comprehensive medical system. Moreover, thinking about a child having to endure getting a limb amputated without pain medication is unfathomable, but for the children in Palestine, it is their reality.

The types of injuries vary, but overall, any child's injury is too many. Just imagine losing an arm, a leg, both arms, both legs, or one of each... you get my point. The mental stress caused by an injury might not be as severe for a child just starting out in life, but think about what a parent, if they’ve survived the bombing, has to deal with and must reassure their child so they can accept their new reality. I know, you hope that you’ll never be placed in this situation, but Palestinian parents don’t have this luxury and there seems to be no end in sight for the foreseeable future, which sucks. 

The advent of the Internet, social media, and certain apps that keep us connected to loved ones and friends has also been a bane for those responsible for the atrocities inflicted on these unfortunate children. Their arrogance was exposed by brave reporters who risked their lives to show the world what happened to the children, which in turn cost many of them their lives… May they all rest in peace. 

The children's remaining limbs will never be silent. Shooting pains in the limbs gone will remind the sufferers of what once was and will forever deny them the natural experience of running and galloping through the woods. Many will never get the chance to confront their parents about why, because they were left to die under the rubble without saying goodbye. The world witnessed a genocide, and society’s conscience shut down. 

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