Do we always have to feel good?

How are you today? I asked my friend who has been finding it difficult to handle the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

It has been the case for most of the people, but especially for him being from the Middle East. One day he brought me the map and said, “Can you name the countries?”

And I started with the easier ones, which I am familiar with and then narrowed down to the places of conflict.

I was curious to know where she would be?

She, a social media influencer from Gaza has been giving regular updates on Instagram.

Two months ago, her posts on social media were about beautiful spots in Palestine, farms, sceneries and neighbouring countries. There was also a video of her winning an award for the content creators.

The social media influencer @wizard_bisan1 has been actively updating each day and she often signs off with "I will be back if I am alive." Lately she has been breaking down and once she had explained how her family allotted a certain amount of water to each individual per day in order to save it. It is the small water bottles, and one day she had lost her share because a kid had come and taken it from her bag. She said it was understandable because water has become scarce in Gaza. She explained how the main source of water has now become sea. “We need water,” she pleaded.

Once again it is not a natural calamity that has come down on them, but a man-made conflict. It is unthinkable to see it happen in this era where the world has come out of a pandemic, is talking about climate change and measures to be taken before it is too late. The Artificial Intelligence is to make the world easier and efficient, while requiring the world to learn new skills. And there they are children who are not even able to dream about their future, leave alone attending classes.

Children anywhere in the world often develop a fear of abandonment, but in the last few days we have seen the children cry for their mother and father with fear in their eyes. We have seen young children look out for their younger siblings.

But it is not just children the community as a whole could be developing a sense of abandonment. Without water and electricity expected mothers are hoping to delay their delivery. Paramedics after rescuing babies try to cheer the little ones and when one baby smiled, the paramedic broke down in tears. What are these children going to do as they grow, if they are given that opportunity?

When we sit down for a coffee, we know that not too far away there are adults and children who have not had a warm meal or a cup of hot coffee, tea or milk. The face of a tearful girl emerges in mind who had said her mother was cooking when she was killed. The basic necessities are becoming unthinkable luxury. And we have begun to realise the value of what we have around us.

Whether we know it or not we have begun to be affected by the happenings across the region - the violence of war. The civilians of Gaza are now without human rights and children are without any basic rights which ought to have guaranteed them right to clean water, health facilities and education. Their classrooms are empty because majority of the students have bid goodbye forever.

If the world had been boasting about the recovery from Covid after fighting with an unseen force, where did that fear go when we see part of humanity belonging to a civilised society where negotiations and diplomacy are failing. In other words medical records will have to now rewrite on life expectancy.