5 Year Old Terrorist

This is not a political blog, the intention was never to discuss politics and this is not what I am about to do now. This blog was intended to write about human feelings, emotions and the absurd things we do along with the good things we do, it is about musings that need to be verbalized and this is why I am writing today.

I watched with disgust the video of Israeli soldiers terrorizing a 5-year-old boy. I could never ever watch a child crying without having the urge to cry with them. They could cry for a piece of candy or because they want a toy but that is fine it comes with the territory of being a child, but crying out of fear, regardless of the reason always breaks my heart to a degree that I cannot understand how anyone can endure seeing a child crying not to mention being the reason for it. The Israeli army spokesperson said that the human activist that filmed the whole incident should have discussed it with them first, I assumed that they thought it was taken out of context, as is always the case, but I would like to ask what COULD be the context of terrorizing a 5 year old. He threw a stone? So? Doesn’t that happen in hundreds of cities around the world? Is it grounds to terrorize the boy, take him into custody, blindfold his father in front of him and take him into custody along with his son?

I will make it a bit simple without asking too many questions, I really truly believe in the depth of my heart that what goes around comes around, one day these soldiers’ children will be terrorized like this by someone stronger without having the ability to defend themselves, nor have any rights, just like the little boy, but perhaps then, because of the way things are in this world, it will become a very sad story, perhaps turn into a book and an Oscar winning movie that the whole world sees and sympathizes with. We might follow their lives into adulthood and get to know how this incident affected their whole lives, their relationships with their families and children, how phobic they became and how it has traumatized them and affected every facet of their lives, every decision they made and every relationship they had, we might even see a psychiatrist analyze in depth how it affected their sexual behavior, some grew to have fantasies about soldiers and others have turned to abuse to satisfy their continuous hunger to dominate. We will later, of course, see them go on talk shows (too bad Oprah is off the air) and cry their eyes out along with the rest of the world and maybe they will start an organization and support groups that help prevent such an atrocity from ever happening again to other children. Shall I go on?

But this boy will go on with his life, perhaps even be the neighborhood hero, the one that was arrested at only 5 years of age, versus the other “adults” that started their patriotic prison terms at the much older age of maybe 7 or 8, he will perhaps not forget the incident, but it will not traumatize him, because he is resilient like all the boys and girls his age who grew up to see this event as a badge of honor and in case of males, a badge of initiation into manhood and becoming what they should become, men without fear.

If the soldiers thought this would break him at an early age so that he grows up a broken docile soul they were mistaken. I believe they made the mistake of making him exactly what they don’t want, more defiant, more confrontational and more hateful.

Next time he will throw a bigger stone so he knows that he will be jailed for something worthwhile not a mere pebble.