" What happens over there will be felt everywhere "

"What happens over there will be felt everywhere"

Children understand.

I was in Morrisons doing some shopping today when Megan called me. She was out with her friends and said "Mum, one of the boys said Russia is about to enter the UK and start fighting us, so we're really scared".

Well, I'm not sure what anyone around me shopping thought about my explanation to a bunch of 11 year olds about Russia and Ukraine, but it went something like.....

After the last BIG playground fight (WW2), lots of popular kids (WORLD LEADERS) got together and made a big gang (NATO), and all the kids in the gang made a pinky promise (TREATY) to be nice and respectful and not fight each other anymore.

This means not going into each other's part of the playground (COUNTRY) without permission, and not throwing sticks or stones (HEAVY ARTILLERY) at each other, and the UK is part of the gang.

But then a new kid (UKRAINE) joined the playground, and a big bad bullly (RUSSIA) started picking on the new kid, all because he is greedy and bossy and wanted the new kids playground space for himself, even though he has one of the biggest spaces in the playground.

But sadly, the new kid is not part of the gang because the big bad bully didn't want the new kid to join the gang.

We would be breaking our pinky promise if any of the gang members help the new kid fight the bully.

We have all told the bully off, and stuck up for the new kid by hiding the bully's pocket money until the bully stops hurting the new kid (SANCTIONS) and this will hopefully stop the bully from buying more sticks and stones.

We have also given the new kid lots of our own sticks and stones to fight the bully, because this is not breaking the pinky promise!

Even though it is really, really sad, all we can do now is stand on the edge of the playground and watch and give moral support to the new kid, because we are not allowed to fight the bully for them, not without breaking the pinky promise.

BUT... if the bully breaks the pinky promise and comes into our part of the playground (UK) without permission and throws a stick or stone at us, then the whole of the gang (NATO) will come and help us, and we will ALL jump on top of the bully (RUSSIA) and beat him up. 

Now don't worry anymore sweetheart, just go and play nicely together in the sunshine and don't get up to any trouble. .

via Yvette Dawson Phillips

“LOVE” by Ukrainian artist Alexander Milov At night, the children inside light up.  

A Single lit Candle

I can’t make the

world peaceful

I can’t stall tanks

from roaring down roads

I can’t prevent children

from having to hide in bunkers

I can’t convince the news to

stop turning war into a video game

I can’t silence the sound of bombs

tearing neighbourhoods apart

I can’t turn a guided missile

into a bouquet of flowers

I can’t make a warmonger

have an ounce of empathy

I can’t convince ambassadors

to quit playing truth or dare

I can’t deflect a sniper’s bullet

from turning a wife into a widow

I can’t stave off a country being

reduced to ash and rubble

I can’t do any of that

the only thing I can do

is love the next person I encounter

without any conditions or strings

to love my neighbour

so fearlessly that

it starts a ripple

that stretches from

one horizon to the next

I can’t force peace

on the world

but I can become a force

of peace in the world

because

sometimes all it takes

is a single lit candle

in the darkness

to start a movement

“Lord, make me a candle

of comfort in this world

let me burn with peace”

~ john roedel

 

 

“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.”

Albert Einstein

 

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

~Margaret Mead

 

“I've seen enough of war to realize that we've got to make a world where wars can't happen.”

RILLA OF INGLESIDE