I recently watched footage of the killer Anders Breivik entering a room with the Press watching on, and my heart did a brief flip as I realised that the ‘applause’ I thought I was hearing, was the constant clicking of the photographers’ cameras. This man is responsible for the horrific Oslo bombing and subsequent shooting massacre of 69 youths who were the young political thinkers of their nation. These victims were the next generation’s decision makers, policy changers, revolutionaries, leaders.
While Breivik’s justice is coming one year on, this week – decades after the crimes – we are witnessing the trial of Ratko Mladic, the man who oversaw the slaughter and persecution of Muslims and Croats, from what he considered Serbian territory, including the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebenica in July 1995.
8,000 men and boys. 8,000 brains, bodies, loves, hates, hearts, dreams, hobbies, thoughts, memories, habits, sleeping patterns, skills… 8,000 lives that could have – would have – been something.
That’s this much potential the world never saw live and die naturally:
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These men did not have to die.
This year, we lost (yet another) teenager to bullying-induced suicide. A gorgeous young woman decided to end her life, after posting a sad, but beautifully made YouTube video, flipping through small placards of her message that explained her story, her hurt, and her abuse.
How does this happen? An obviously intelligent, talented young woman has taken herself out of this world. Her death will be greatly felt amongst her family and friends, as she has already imprinted her personality and style in her school and social groups.
[Action taken this week against workplace bullying (“Brodie’s Law”) is a welcome movement in the hope of stopping bullying and associated deaths in the workplace.]
In World War One, C.S.Lewis fought alongside J.R.R.Tolkien. What void would exist in the literary history – and present – of the world had these men perished alongside the many that did?
More importantly – what if the man, shelled on the front line, who was advancing next to the writer of the Lord of the Rings, had been a great composer, a great sportsmen, a wonderful father? That man has been taken from the world because of war. Because of hate, greed, intolerance or just plain stupidity. THESE are the losses that we cry for, when we cry over war.
At my uncle’s funeral, we heard eulogies from his family and his ex-wife, with whom he shares a son. She declared him as ‘the very best of men’. And that he was. He never wrote a book, or discovered something in the science realm, but he worked nights in the infectious diseases unit without telling her, to feed the family. He cared for all his family relentlessly, and gave money to charities when he had none for himself. His loss is a great loss to his loved ones, and his friends, and his community.
Every child that breathes in this world has potential. Whether they are wearing elite school blazers, or playing hacki sack alone in the Himalayas. When you look out over the 25 heads in a Primary School, or Secondary School classroom, each of those bodies is a brain and soul worthy of ‘having a go’ in this life.
In a country far away, or living next door to you, could be the next Tolkien, or the next Obama, or the next Fred Hollows, or the next Cathy Freeman.
About 40 children have died since you started reading this blog. They would have died due to poverty or disease that could have been stopped. They might have died in Syria, victims of cruel oppression and relentless violence, or they could have died in the most remote regions of Nepal, where access to toilets and clean water might have saved them.
That’s this many lives:
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…that could have changed the world – and what they could have done and who they could have been, we will never know.
PS. I am a Buddhist. I believe that we come and go into and out of this world, and even in a short visit, we can do great good and spread great love. But this horrible sadness we feel when we know it is just too soon – it is not right that we lose beautiful lives due to war, genocide or conditions that could be avoided. I guess this is the lesson we learn.