In places like Iraq, Mali, Myanmar, Afghanistan, and the Central African Republic, there are children fighting as soldiers. These kids are like Omar Kadar, have been taken from their homes or have been sold for money because their parents believe it is the best way to keep them and their children safe. After being taken they are brainwashed with drugs and violence. Child soldiers never get to live their own lives as kids. They have to live a life of killing and orders, instead of a live of love and family. This life of orders and violence for kids may pose a large problem for them as they grow up. How their pasts of killing and watching others be killed could change them when they are older, leave them hurt and scared. These are all part of the reason why child soldiers are victims. The child soldiers often become brainwashed with drugs and violence. Firstly children are promised something that they want in order for them to work for their army,”Children are forced by commanders through false promises, drugs and things which you can’t even imagine, to kill innocent civilians, other children and even their own families.”( Child Soldiers: Invisible Children). In particular a commander in the African Nation of Chad said that child soldiers are the perfect weapon,”They don’t complain, they don’t expect to be paid- and if you tell them to kill, they kill.”(Gentleman). Along with this child soldiers are often wanted as recruits for either rebel groups or for the government because they can easily be intimidated and indoctrinated. Child soldiers often are not acting on their own free will, but on the will of what the orders of their superiors say. Additionally child soldiers never had a chance to be a kid and live a life as a kid. They were introduced to violence and war at a young age. A more specific example is Omar Kadar, a former child soldier. He was taken to Guantanamo Bay at the age of fifteen after fighting in a fatal firefight against American troops. He threw a grenade and killed a General and brutally wounded others. Kadar was also brutally injured losing part of his eye sight and two bullet wounds to the chest all at the age of fifteen. Kadar never had a choice in whether or not to fight in a war. Omar Khadr's father was a general that worked for al Qaeda brought up his son like he was another soldier, not a son.” The No. 1 reason that Khadr was dangerous: his father. A senior ranking al Qaeda leader now dead, Khadr's father took him to visit al Qaeda leaders when he was 10 and to a military training camp when he was 15. The fact that this constituted use and abuse by Khadr's father…” Even as a young boy at the age of ten he was introduced to a life of fighting and war, because of his father. He never had the chance of a normal childhood like many other child soldiers, they don’t get to grow up with their family, having fun and laughing. Reflecting on this child soldiers have to grow up being threatened by their leaders and killing innocent people because they are told to. Additionally even after the fighting child soldiers are still being affected. Most have to live knowing the fact that they killed people. Some lost limbs, that will always remind them of their time fighting for a cause they may not have believed in. While most or if not all of them were emotionally wounded due to rejection from their families and communities. Even if they do not fight anymore they are scared, that most still pose as a threat to society and themselves. Another significant reason is that when child soldiers grow up there is no point for them to go back into civilization,”nothing to gain from citizenship and nothing to lose from war,”(Ugandan NGO). There are in some cases where child soldiers do not feel the need to come back to society at all. In conclusion child soldiers shouldn’t be given trials for something they had no control over. They should be rehabilitated back into society to try and live a normal life after all they have been through. Taking children to join an army isn’t right and blaming them for what happens while they are their is worse. Children that are doing whatever they can to stay alive. Kids deserve the chance to be kids, not expendables in a war they have nothing to do with, and be persecuted for their commander's actions on telling them what to do. We now see that child soldiers are the victims who need help to escape their lives of, kill or be killed.
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In places like Iraq, Mali, Myanmar, Afghanistan, and the Central African Republic, there are children fighting as soldiers. These kids are like Omar Kadar, have been taken from their homes or have been sold for money because their parents believe it is the best way to keep them and their children safe. After being taken they are brainwashed with drugs and violence. Child soldiers never get to live their own lives as kids. They have to live a life of killing and orders, instead of a live of love and family. This life of orders and violence for kids may pose a large problem for them as they grow up. How their pasts of killing and watching others be killed could change them when they are older, leave them hurt and scared. These are all part of the reason why child soldiers are victims. The child soldiers often become brainwashed with drugs and violence. Firstly children are promised something that they want in order for them to work for their army,”Children are forced by commanders through false promises, drugs and things which you can’t even imagine, to kill innocent civilians, other children and even their own families.”( Child Soldiers: Invisible Children). In particular a commander in the African Nation of Chad said that child soldiers are the perfect weapon,”They don’t complain, they don’t expect to be paid- and if you tell them to kill, they kill.”(Gentleman). Along with this child soldiers are often wanted as recruits for either rebel groups or for the government because they can easily be intimidated and indoctrinated. Child soldiers often are not acting on their own free will, but on the will of what the orders of their superiors say. Finally child soldiers never had a chance to be a kid and live a life as a kid. They were introduced to violence and war at a young age. A more specific example is Omar Kadar, a former child soldier. He was taken to Guantanamo Bay at the age of fifteen after fighting in a fatal firefight against American troops. He threw a grenade and killed a General and brutally wounded others. Kadar was also brutally injured losing part of his eye sight and two bullet wounds to the chest all at the age of fifteen. Kadar never had a choice in whether or not to fight in a war. Omar Kadar's father was a general that worked for al Qaeda brought up his son like he was another soldier, not a son.” The No. 1 reason that Kadar was dangerous: his father. A senior ranking al Qaeda leader now dead, Kadar's father took him to visit al Qaeda leaders when he was 10 and to a military training camp when he was 15. The fact that this constituted use and abuse by Kadar's father…” Even as a young boy at the age of ten he was introduced to a life of fighting and war, because of his father. He never had the chance of a normal childhood like many other child soldiers, they don’t get to grow up with their family, having fun and laughing. Reflecting on this child soldiers have to grow up being threatened by their leaders and killing innocent people because they are told to. Additionally even after the fighting child soldiers are still being affected. Most have to live knowing the fact that they killed people. Some lost limbs, that will always remind them of their time fighting for a cause they may not have believed in. While most or if not all of them were emotionally wounded due to rejection from their families and communities. Even if they do not fight anymore they are scared, that most still pose as a threat to society and themselves. Another significant reason is that when child soldiers grow up there is no point for them to go back into civilization,”nothing to gain from citizenship and nothing to lose from war,”(Ugandan NGO). There are in some cases where child soldiers do not feel the need to come back to society at all. In conclusion child soldiers shouldn’t be given trials for something they had no control over. They should be rehabilitated back into society to try and live a normal life after all they have been through. Taking children to join an army isn’t right and blaming them for what happens while they are their is worse. Children that are doing whatever they can to stay alive. Kids deserve the chance to be kids, not expendables in a war they have nothing to do with, and be persecuted for their commander's actions on telling them what to do. We now see that child soldiers are the victims who need help to escape their lives of, kill or be killed. Martin Luther King and Malcolm x were both freedom protesters,they both wanted black rights, but they had their own ways of trying to attain freedom. Both of the men Martin Luther and Malcolm x both believed in equal rights. Martin Luther King thought that, “America has given the Negro people a bad check a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds”.” Malcolm X was similar in the way his speech was written about how blacks were treated and how they should stand up,”When the black man starts reaching out for what America says are his rights, the black man feels that he is within his rights-when he becomes the victim of brutality by those who are depriving him of his rights-to do whatever necessary to protect himself…” Both men show that they believed that the way the blacks were treated was unfair and unruly towards them because they are still people and the color of their skin shouldn’t change that. The way both of them wanted to regain freedom was very different from the other as well.For instance Martin Luther King was a peaceful protestor who wanted his words to speak for his wishes of black freedom. He had a wish that,”my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character.” While Malcolm x had the same wish for freedom of blacks but thought that the only way for freedom was through violence. He wanted,”blacks to be proud of their race”, but,”portrayed whites as devils.” Malcolm believed that the fighting was the best option, the only option,”When I say fight for independence right here, I don’t mean any non-violence fight.” To differ from this Martin Luther King thought that there was no need to fight and there was a better option. He wanted whites and blacks to be equal,” little black boys and little black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.” They wanted freedom for blacks, but they had different point of views on the subject. Martin Luther King wanted a peaceful end to the way they were treated, while Malcolm X thought the way they were treated could only be ended with fighting to their freedom. The Ellis family wants to have another dog. So that is what they are doing, they are going to get a dog. The mother Trish is probably as excited as her daughter Cordelia, while the father James isn’t that excited or, maybe he is just not showing it. He is grumbling words like,
“Another dog” or “I can’t believe we are doing this.” to himself. While Trish is laughing at him. Once they have the new member of their family they will have three pets at home. A cat named Beaude and a black lab named Gracie and the new puppy. The family is on there way to a farm about two hours away from where they live in Greenwood, Indiana to go to a farm that only has purebred English Mastiffs. The drive is long and all there is nothing to see out the window, expect fields of corn that seems to go on for miles. The parents Trish and James are talking about where they will go if they can’t find a dog, and if they did find a dog what would the name be? While the little girl Cordelia at three-years-old is in the backseat sleeping from it being ten o’clock at night. Once they arrive at the farm they see a small sort of rugged barn that looks barren with stacks of hay on the sides of the barn. Trish is the first one out of the car and is going to wake up Cordelia, while James is going to talk to the owners about finding a dog. The inside of the barn had hay all around the floor and little puppies running around and playing. On the sides there there were stalls like the one you would put a horse, but the owners didn't seem to have any horses, so the stalls were probably for the puppies. Before the family starts looking for a dog the owners tell them. “ All the dogs here are purebred english mastiffs so they can be very tall and pretty heavy, but they are wonderful dogs and are protective of their owners and are great with children.” Trish and James said thank you and okay to the owners and just like that the family was looking for there new puppy to bring home. Trish and Cordelia went in one direction and James went to another. Trish and Cordelia are playing with this red and brown colored dog that is very hyper and jumping on them both. James is being followed by this little puppy that is light and dark brown and as James put it. “He was just adorable and very lovable.” James went over with the puppy close behind to Trish and Cordelia telling them, “This little puppy is the one for us, the other one is too hyper and is jumping all over us.” Trish agreed with James, while Cordelia went off to play with the puppy that was following James. Trish and James went to talk to the owners about the dog, but the owners said that he is the runt and that they were going to keep him. Trish and James tried to talk with them and bargain to try and get the dog. After a while the owners finally agreed to give the dog to the family and they were ecstatic to be taking the dog home. Now there was one trouble what in the world are they going to name the dog, but that got resolved quickly enough when Trish said, “ What about Maximus., but we call him Max?” James responded by saying , “I like that name and isn’t it from the gladiator movie Maximus?” The family loved the name Maximus and kept the name over the years. * * * It has been nine years since the family got Max. The Ellis family had enjoyed every second with their dog and loved him so much even at the last seconds of Max’s life. Max passed away June 30th, 2016. The family will always remember Max and have him in their hearts forever. |
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March 2017
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