Excerpt from "Children Soldiers: The Loss of Innocence"  

by Lance Finkbeiner

Children have no place in war.  The prevention of children soldiers involves raising standards of living, promoting world harmony, and pursuing laws which protect the innocent.  “To make this a reality, we need only to match the will of those who do evil with our own will to do good” (Singer 2005, 211). “We must envision a society free of conflict where children can grow up as children, not as weapons of war” (Ozernoy 2002).  This arduous task involves lessening world poverty, promoting education and employment opportunities, securing food and water supplies, and signing and accepting international laws which protect children.  “Children need be the victims of war only if there is no will to prevent it.  Experiences in dozens of conflicts confirm that extraordinary actions have been taken and can be taken to protect and provide for children” (UNICEF 1996).  We have the potential to stop this barbaric practice of using children soldiers.  The struggle is, how do we make this possible in such a self-consuming apathetic society?  The process must start with individuals at a grass-roots level.  The lives of some 500,000 current children soldiers and infinitely more future soldiers, depend on our response.  We must raise our level of awareness through education, heighten our level of concern through compassion, and implement the solution of acting out against the face of human rights violations to eradicate current atrocities and prevent future humanitarian crises.  To put it simply, society must be aware, care, and act.  The innocence of children must be protected!

            Whatever you can do,

            or dream you can, begin it.

            Boldness has genius,

            power and magic in it. (Goethe)