A nation untouched, out of touch

Amidst a procession of Christmas-related posts and rib-tickling memes which had most likely presented themselves to me before, I recently noticed a video of Al Jazeera’s making shared by one of my Facebook friends.

The video contained footage of the atrocities in Syria and more pertinently revealed the physical, mental and emotional toll it is taking on the people of Aleppo.  Air strikes continue to rain down on Aleppo as you and I continue to argue superficially about whether or not Christmas should be spoken about in the 11th month of the year.

There exists no argument among my peers as to whether or not we should be talking about Aleppo.

To see a video shared by one of my friends was a minute chink of light but at the back of my mind I despaired because for every one person who saw that video there were more than likely ten others oblivious to even the notion of such information.

This isn’t to say that I am an omniscient soul who is aware of all there is to know about the plight of innocent civilians in a war-stricken country. The reality is I am still trying to get up to speed with it. The broader point, however, is that while we could all put scrolling on hold to rant about the politics of Donald Trump and all the evil he promises to enforce, we are devastatingly out of touch with the evil being enforced as we speak.

Aleppo, war-torn since 2012, is a shadow of its former self, with roughly 40,000 people from a pre-war population of 1 million left in the east of the city. Air strikes and shell attacks fill the days and fear and grief dominate the nights.

Upon the conclusion of last week, an air strike connected with a children’s hospital, prompting nurses to remove the bodies of new-born babies from incubators. How, in this day and age, is such a statement possible?

Elsewhere, a 6-year-old child named Mohammad was rescued after 3 days under rubble in Al-Ma’adi by White Helmet volunteers, much to the elation and relief of a bystander who, judging by the video, was standing behind the camera.

If a positive conclusion to such an episode is the only source of joy for these people, then something is gravely wrong.  What has that young boy got to look forward to after overcoming such trauma? Will he survive another day, week or month?

If he does survive, what is on the agenda in his lifetime other than survival? His future, along with thousands of others, is in the lap of the gods.

Perspective is something very powerful and even sometimes, when we are shot in the arm with it, it fades into obscurity and we go back to living our own lives and worrying about ourselves.

This is natural and not something we should shake our heads at.

We have a generous quality of life ingrained into us just as Syrian civilians have adversity and terror ingrained into theirs.  But a middle ground whereby we have a forum for discussion on such neglected topics is needed.

Otherwise, the random sharing of a video of doom and gloom becomes a flash in the pan. For answers to be received, questions need to be asked.

We may be limited in what we can do for the people of Aleppo considering our location, but why can’t we stoke the fire and get a discussion built? Stories bereft of all humanity are of interest to humanity. To you and I.

We, presumably like many other countries, have a knack of moaning about those in power.

Such and such should be doing this and that, he’s useless, they’re all useless.

Some of our gripes may of course have validity, however we walk the footpaths and take to the roads and ply our trade and express ourselves each day. We hop, skip and jump from this to that to the other in our daily lives. At the end of the day most of us pull a duvet over ourselves and stare at the roof above us.

Put simply, what is happening in Aleppo is not remotely fair. If the tables were turned, we would fall off our chairs.  If Donald Trump’s slithering slalom to the White House has done any good, then hopefully that is to have awoken the voice of the youth and hooked them up to the mic.

Perhaps now, tense with frustration, more people can turn the screw in their own heads and inform themselves in a broader sense to discover who and what stood in the way of a peaceful Christmas in Aleppo.