The most heartbreaking picture I think I've ever seen

If. like me, you do not believe there is a god, then you have to accept that it is up to US to do something to stop or at least alleviate the suffering. If everyone with any humanity did something, sending aid, welcoming refugees, lobbying politicians, no matter how small then the world would be a better place.

I cannot put my faith in an allegedly all powerful god who would allow innocent children to suffer in this way, nor expect 'someone else' to DO 'something'. It is up to us, individually and collectively to force change.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/201803/medium-953503-syrian-child.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/201803/medium-629114-syrian-child-2.jpg

This is in fact an old photograph (2012) of a little girl in Gaza but the message is still the same - no child should see such horrors.
These 4 year old Syrian children are expecting to be faced by a gun, not a photographer:

Oh! it's just terrible. I'm lost for words to describe how appalling this conflict is. I just feel I can't bear to watch it on the news. If there is a God, or someone, please PLEASE make it STOP!

Oh BlueBelle that is so awful. I’m sitting here in my comfortable, warm home and wondering what I’ve done to deserve this while that poor woman has nothing. So unfair ?

I think even if you can only make people aware it is more than many who walk on by because it’s not happening to them
I collect and send aid from my area and received back a short video of them giving it out it broke my heart there was a very very old lady lying on some clothes on the floor of a tent with a silk scarf draped over her head the man bringing the aid went to move the scarf to speak to her and (the interpreted words were) please don’t take that I m so cold) it was just a silk scarf. I just cried feeling so totally helpless I m crying now thinking about it again

Good for you Granny23 and good for all of you who are doing just a little bit. All those little bits do add up. If we can help just one child then we've made a difference.

And ann you have absolutely no reason to berate yourself. We all know your time is entirely taking up in caring for your DH, and I'm quite sure that throughout your life you have helped when you've been more able. Now is the time for your help to be directed where it's most needed - at home. The same goes for you Lucky and so many others who find themselves unexpectedly caring for family members. for you all.

Although I am also tied to a caring role, I do what I can to support our Syrian Refugees via a friend who is a closely involved volunteer. When there was a small protest about refugees being given Council Houses while local people were on the waiting list, I took to social media and the letters page of the local paper to explain the real situation.

I know it is a drop in the bucket but if we ALL do something it adds up. My reward? When we attended the Christmas show at DGC's Primary school, there in the choir, dressed in their Christmas Jumpers etc., were not only my DGC but also 2 of the Syrian children wearing the Beanie Hats that I had knitted.

That is a very distressing picture Bathsheba

I get quite a lot of pictures on my FB page from someone who is helping Syrian refugees in Turkey - some yesterday had cheered me as toddlers cuddled their new teddies. But then you look and see where they are 'living' - existing. And they are 'luckier' because they have escaped from the hell that is Syria.

There’s something especially heartbreaking about seeing sadness through the eyes of a child. The innocence of the little girl in the photo is what I find especially moving.

Ann, not bible thumping but I did at one time feel as you did , I wept, then someone reminded me of the 'widows mite' she gave all she had/could. You cannot stop wars , protect all innocents, you can only do what you can x

That's probably one of the saddest photos I've ever seen. I feel like Bathsheba.

ann - do not be so hard on yourself - there is nothing you can do. It is tragic beyond words, but we are helpless to change anything.

I often think I would like to get involved in some of the services for refugees, but I am tied to a caring role, just as you are. We can only do what we can do.

Children are always the worst affected by war, mainly because they have no understanding of the reasons for the misery.
Ann you really shouldn't feel the way you do, nothing is your fault .

but they are grains of sand on a beach of tears
That made me cry all over again BlueBelle.
When I saw this image, I wanted to reach in and pick this child up and cuddle her. I feel so helpless, so powerless to do anything about the monsters that inflict such suffering. I always wake several times in the night and last night every time I woke, the picture of this poor little girl was there, right at the foreground of my consciousness. I can't get her out of my mind. She looks about the same age as my GD and the contrast between their two lives is just too much to bear.

Everything helps BlueBelle all of us who give a little are supporting them. That picture is so sad, no child should suffer like that. They have known nothing else in their lives, shame on the perpetrators - all of them.

We have had several Syrian families settle in our area and there is a local support group - I know it’s onlly a small thing but helping to settle them in and make them feel welcome is something we can contribute to - it’s especislly rewarding seeing the children develop in confidence and being children again.

It’s shameful in every way. I feel so helpless that there’s so little I can do and I feel ashamed of those fellow Brits who say charity begins at home.

No British child ever suffers like this.

It’s unbelievable what brother can do to brother and nothing ever changes that’s what saddens me so much
How many children the world over have lived through years of war even in our lifetimes
It’s shameful how humans behave and person by person we can do nothing to alter it unless the whole world wants to change together it will never be any different as individually we are barren. I join peace groups, I petition, I help with aid but they are grains of sand on a beach of tears

I am totally ashamed of humanity and of not doing more myself. I feel unable to act which disgusts me about myself.

On Fridays we look after dgs 7 after school for a couple of hours. We were on the sofa watching TV and he laughed so hard he got hiccough.Two hours later I was watching C4 news and the reporter said all Syrian children 7 and under have only ever known war - my eyes prickled with tears as I thought of all those lost childhoods that can never be replaced and of the. contrast with so many of our dgc of that age

No me neither Squiffy. There is so much suffering in the world. But perhaps it was ever thus, and now we are bombarded with images so it feels as if it’s much worse.
All I know is that for that child, the suffering is about as bad as it gets ?

There are no words, are there? ? I can't bear watching the news these days.

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