When I was in high school, I became aware of a horrifying event that was happening around the world, the issue of child soldiers. The idea of children fighting the pointless wars of men disgusted me.
The words wrist or elbow still haunt me sometimes. The idea that refusing would result in the loss of limbs for children a young as my siblings, 5, 7, 8 ... of course they agree to fight, they have no choice. And what about elder ones? Teens are forced to join for the sake of their family or their own lives. They know no other option.
Why do they want the children so bad? What use are they? You might ask, but think about it. Children are like sponges. They're impressionable, and thy take in knowledge much faster than adults. It's easy to teach a child to pick up a gun, or diffuse bombs and their size means they are good spies... And hey, if they die, they're not worth one bit to these cold hearted fighters.
So one may question, why no one is doing anything about it? Well they are. There are organizations that help rehabilitate children. But that is after the fact, the damage has been done. This problem can't be solved without attacking the roots themselves. The use of child soldiers in any and all conflicts is a severely punishable war crime, but they have to catch the culprits first, and that is the difficult task. Most child soldiers are used by rebel fighters against the government, who are technically not accountable to the United Nations. Yep, that is, according to a friend, the dumbest thing ever.
I never really forgot that learned this ages ago, but for some reason, as I was catching up on Naruto, it hit me that Masashi Kishimoto's famous anime Naruto is exactly that! The story of children learning to become weapons of war, ninjas to fight other ninjas, commit assassinations and even escort missions, from the moment that they learn to walk! Now to be honest, Naruto is a fictional world, but here's the thing! I LOVE Naruto! It's one of my favourite mangas I've ever read, because it has beautifully fleshed out characters, intricate (if a bit long winded) plots and brilliants morals. But in the end, at the centre of this entire thing is the truth that the story is about child soldiers!
What I will never forget is in the beginning, when Sakura, one of the major characters is engaged in a fight with her 'archnemesis aka exbestfriend" Ino during the ninja exams. Sakura was initially losing and git her hair caught in a trap of Ino's. She cuts her hair off, then brutally fights back and wins. In the dialogue, what stood out to me was her promise to herself to grow up, become a better ninja and never to be caught up in a trap like that. Yes, I loved it because I finally had respect for Sakura and because it spoke of growing up. Sakura was 12 years old. Growing up sounds ok (unless you're me:) but what 12 year old should be ready to kill on command? A child soldier. This was not just growing up, this was hardening up, and not at 18 or 25 or 30, when one has seen a lot of the world, but at the tender age of 12.
I'm all for growing up, everyone should mature and become responsible but that is not the same as hardening up and becoming someone who will obey any and all orders, willing to ignore all laws and rules. And how can they turn that off?? The Doctor from Doctor Who once said, what's the point of bring a grown up if you can't be a child once in a while? What about these children? They grew up too fast, fighting the ears of the elders, with no clue or care for what they were even fighting for! The idea of it just makes me nauseous.
Naruto and Sakura both chose to be ninja, they weren't part of ninja clans or anything, they chose it, unlike the poor children in our world. But somewhere, someone needs to draw a line! Ninja training started once thy learned to walk, so what choice is that anyway? A choice made by children thinking that's it's all about glory and power, and fun. And them they learn the truth and it's too late, you can't retire out of this, it becomes a lifetimes burden... One no child has or even should have the capacity of understanding and enduring.
Ok I'm done, I'm gonna go throw up now.
Cool as ever. You should tap this in a book! Children's emotions being forcefully plucked out of them...betrays reason.
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