Victims or Perpetrators? There are a total of around 300,000 child soldiers in the world, and about 40% of armed forces in the world also use children in their fighting forces. Children are often forced to fight at an age as young as five, and many of them are mentally and physically wounded for the rest of their life. Therefore children are victims because they brainwash the kids, they lie to the kids to make them fight, and they have little choice in their decision to fight. Children are majorly brainwashed into the army. Armies use drugs and alcohol on the kids to make them more obedient. The drugs that are used on the young trick them to kill due to the affects it has on the embryonic mind. In more recent studies “after being taken captive, the would-be child soldiers -which include boys as young as five- were told that isis commanders cared for them more than their own parents.”(www.hrw.org/reports/1994/liberia2/ ) They also told the children that their parents were unbelievers and the first thing they had to do was to go back and kill them. To a child this would be a very scary situation and if you did eventually kill them, like most of them do, it would be very hard to live with. For example in Sierra Leone kids were brainwashed with drugs and alcohol, and then forced to kill, “any children who refused to fight, kill or showed any weakness were ruthlessly dealt with. Emotions weren’t allowed.” (www.cnn.com/2012/10/08/world/africa/ishmael-beah-child-soldier/index.htm ) Many other children have been abducted by the RUF in recent weeks to carry military equipment and stolen goods, and female abductees are regularly raped. The RUF is a major factor in child soldiers. Fighting forces do many things to the kids to persuade them in helping fight for their side. Children are not only drugged, they are also promised false information. They have promised food, water, and shelter, and with the little food they have to survive it is difficult to leave because they rely on the commanders for basic things. Some war children are promised “money or a chance at better life.” With the little they know it is difficult for the young teen to just leave when they are told many glamorous things. Additionally sometimes the children are rejected by their own communities, especially girls who have had babies with soldiers. They are forced by commanders through false promises, drugs, and things you can’t imagine, to kill innocent civilians, and other children or even their own family. Children were promised anything they could steal including houses, cars, clothes, and food. “False promises were given -- that they would be paid in U.S. dollars, that they would get a house in Monrovia, or cars. This was a major thing that caused random killings; you get the property, if you get rid of the owner.” (www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-is-brainwashing-children-to-murder-their-own-parents-child-soldier-who-escaped-from-raqqa-a6818601.html ) Promising false information made the young children very dangerous. Most importantly children are so young they have little choice in their knowing to fight. Most child soldiers are kidnapped and taken from their families. A very bloodcurdling thing to endure at a young age. Children are forced into fighting and they have little choice on whether or not they enlist, they follow all orders of adults rather than acting on their own free will. “Abduction is the most common method by which child soldier recruitment takes place. In short, there are two primary ways children can become child soldiers: they are abducted, or conscripted through coercion or severe threats; or they are born into forces or groups.” (www.accord.org.za/conflict-trends/understanding-recruitment-child-soldiers-africa/ ) In better words children are taken with severe threats to follow certain orders, and they then grow up with it because of their age. Children pick up on and continue trends when they are older, and child soldiers due what they are told to do, it continues to got worse and worse as they grow up. This illustrates that children are too young to understand what they are even doing. Children are harmed in all aspects in war, from mental to physical, from commanders to older soldiers. Children are also promised false information to be forced into enlisting, and finally children are so young that their decisions are not their choice. They are taken from their families to be scared for the rest of their life. They are taken at such a young age that they do not even understand the consequences of the situation so they just do whatever they are told. They follow what other people do and that is what they will also do, its part of being a child and learning. Children are victims when it comes to fighting in war. Whether it being them brainwashed, being lied to, or their lack of understanding. Child soldiers are victims not perpetrators.
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By Blair Wayman and Katie Standish
Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were very famous for their influential speeches. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous "I Have A Dream" speech on August 28, 1963. In this speech is one of his most powerful lines, "I have a dream 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 by the content of their character.” Malcolm X gave his speech “Ballot or bullet” on April 12, 1964. He talked about the importance of black nationalism and building a black community that stands up to the white stereotype. These two speeches have many similarities and differences. In Martin Luther King’s I have a dream speech he pushes towards equality for all, and in Malcolm X’s “ballot or bullet” speech he wanted a “black revolution.” Meaning they both wanted freedom for blacks. They wanted blacks to be happy, as Martin Luther King said “This note was the promise to all men ,yes, black men as well as white men would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Along with the similarities of the speeches, the point of views of each person is different. Martin Luther King wanted to resolve this in the most peaceful way possible. “We must not allow our peaceful protests to degenerate into physical violence.” Malcolm X wanted to resolve the problem by finishing whatever was going to stand in his way. “The new generation of black people that have grown up in this country during recent years are already forming the opinion, and it's just opinion, that if there is to be bleeding, it should be reciprocal-- bleeding on both sides ...” Martin Luther King did not mention his religion in his speech while Malcolm X stated that he was Muslim and it influenced how he lived and his life decisions. To finish this thought the speeches played a very important role in the current black generation, it gave them freedom and equality. Although the speeches have their differences, without these brave people the world would not be the same. Blair Wayman
Mr. Moody LA 8 Red 1 September 9 2016 Janet Stanley watched her nieces play at the Village of West Clay pool, it was like any ordinary, hot summer day. “Come’on girls it is time to go,” Janet yelled to her nieces. It was time to go so they all made their way to their white car and began to drive off. A few moments later “thud!” A small bird had smacked onto the windshield. As everyone screamed Stanley bolted out of the car like she was in the Indy 500. Murmur surrounded the scene as people stopped and honked horns for her to get out of the road. “Just let it be road kill,” someone yelled. Janet shook it off like it was nothing, she continued without a care what anyone else said because what she put her mind too was what she was going to do. “Is everyone alright?” some asked. “Throw me your towel,” she said. Sidney, one of her nieces, was in tears. She chucked off her soaking wet towel and tossed it to her. Stanley took the towel and wrapped the bird in it, she then handed the bloody bird back to Sidney. Sidney was fearful. “Be careful and buckle up, we are in for a ride,” she said. ✷✷✷ Janet isn’t your ordinary animal lover, she has a passion for animals and always tries to put them at first priority. This bird was not the only animal Janet had helped either. It all started at a young age, Janet had an abundance of animals, cats, dogs and fish. She lived on a farm and took great care of all of her animals. When an animal was in need Stanley was the one to call, and it only progressed as she got older. As Stanley got older it became her passion to help animals, she would never leave one stranded on the side of the road or one left alone on that was hurt. ✷✷✷ Stanley sped off (at legal speed of course) and rushed to the animal hospital. Stanley wanted to make ensure that the bird was gonna make it out alive. Stanley's heart was beating. Her arms were sweating. She pulled into the parking lot with a giant swerve right. “Is it going to be ok?” Sidney asked. “Let’s hope so now hurry up, let’s go!,” Janet said anxiously. ✷✷✷ Stanley has saved many animals in her life. She has not only tried to save multiple birds, and has saved multiple birds, she has also saved a cat's life. While Stanley was looking out of her window in her basement she saw something very strange in her basement window, it was a cat with its legs mangled together. Immediately she rushed to the hospital and payed for the cat to have surgery and then she decided that she was going to then adopt the cat for herself. Later on Stanley decided to give the cat to her daughter Jordan, who was also an animal lover herself. Unfortunately the bird did they had rushed to the hospital did not make it, but all in all Stanley cares for the animals a lot. Janet Stanley has not only made an impact in her nieces eyes, but also for the animals she has saved, and many local people in her community. Stanley is only 54 and hopes to continue this until the day that she dies. “They hold a very special place in my heart, that will never be filled with anything else,” Stanley said cuddled up with her pets on the couch. As she pulled them closer and sheds a tear, “I don’t know what I would do without them.” |
AuthorBlair Wayman Archives
March 2017
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