Child soldiers, even though we don’t see them it doesn’t mean they’re not there. Recently, people have been debating on whether child soldiers are victims or perpetrators. They are forced to fight through false promises. Child soldiers are forced to have drugs, alcohol, cocaine, and gunpowder. They have no choice but to fight. Our world can’t keep forgetting about child soldiers. Children across the globe are being taken from their families to be forced to fight for their country. The people that take them punish them for no reason. We need to unite to help the child soldiers. We need to held them from this tragedy that has happened in their life. We cannot wait any longer. We must help them now. An important reason is that child soldiers should be considered victims is that the kids are manipulated. For example, Omar Khadr--a child soldier--was manipulated from a young age by his father, who was an Al Qaeda leader. “...Khadr's father took him to visit al Qaeda leaders when he was 10 and to a military training camp when he was 15. The fact that this constituted use and abuse by Khadr's father did not seem to be important...” (The Child Soldier on Trial at Guantanamo). Imagine if you were forced to be a child soldier against your best interest. He never wanted to be a child soldier but since his dad was an Al Qaeda leader so he almost had no choice but to deal with it. Like Omar Khadr there are many other kids that struggle being a child soldier. Child soldiers have been given drugs to do so many things that their commanders force them to do. They have also been promised things that aren’t given to them. These kids are between 9 and 18 years old and were taken from their families and live in the worst condition a kid could live in and they shouldn’t have experienced what they did. Another significant issue that child soldiers face is that they are practically brainwashed to follow commands. They’re heavily drugged and lied to. What makes this even worse, is this issue begins often when they’re 9 to 10 years old. “Child soldiers are children under the age of 18 who are recruited by armed groups who use children as shields, cooks, suicide bombers, fighters, spies, messengers…”(10 Facts about Child Soldiers). Something to keep in mind, is that around 200,000 kids worldwide have struggled and still struggle with this issue which is close to 200,000 drugged kids that don’t even want to fight. Try to think of what it’d be like to be forced to be drugged with drugs, cocaine, alcohol, and gunpowder so you’d listen to any command. When they are drugged commanders force them to kill people during war time. Some kids are forced to be suicide bombers. Imagine if you were in battle then were sent in just to blow yourself up. Child soldiers are drugged by commanders and the commanders are getting away with it. Why should the child soldiers get charged for what they have done when it’s the commanders fault that they even did whatever they did. The child soldiers are the victims. We should the commanders not the kids because the kids are innocent, not the commanders. This happens in 15 different countries. Most of the countries are in Africa and the Middle East. Countries that use child soldiers are Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Iraq, Myanmar, Philippines, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Thailand, West Bank/Gaza, and Yemen (What are child soldiers?). Something to think about is “during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980’s, Iranian children who were used as soldiers would be sent out ahead in waves over minefields. Also, during Palestine’s fight with Israel, children would often be used as soldiers from both sides” (Child Soldiers). This demonstrates that child soldiers are used in many different countries and they are used to help countries during war even if the children don't want to fight. More importantly, these children have no choice of whether or not they have to fight. Kids are often sold to fight by their parents so the family can have enough money to survive. It’s hard to say whether or not the families know what is to come of their kids, but it’s certain to say that if they did much less would sell their children to the war. How would you feel if you were sripped from your family so you could die in battle. Most of these kids are seriously wounded in battle. These children are given guns and bombs and are told to go fight. Children are placed in disastrous situations which are completely preposterous. If they manage to survive in battle, and attempt to escape, they are killed anyways. The commanders treat child soldiers like they are of endless supply. They don’t care whether they die or not. Child soldiers are not the perpetrators, in their eyes they have done nothing wrong. The ones that have survived are really heroes. These kids have been manipulated, drugged, lied to, and as for the ones that survived, they’re seriously damaged, physically and mentally. They survived the harsh unfair treatment, and deserve a childhood just like the children we see in the United States. Even though the child soldiers have had a rough past there is still room for a bigger, better, and brighter future for them. All we have to do is get them out of their current situation. As soon as the child soldiers get out of the country that they are forced to fight for and go to a country that can give them what they need to get back on their feet, then the future is bright.
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By: Amber Pietz and Sreya Immadisetty Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X had different points of view when it came to equal rights. They both agreed that everyone should be treated equal and everyone should have equal rights. During the mid 1900’s, equality was a huge problem. In this time period African Americans were not treated equally and didn’t have many Civil Rights. Although they had the same goal, they achieved it in different ways. Malcolm X was a more violent and negative thinker, while Martin Luther King Jr. focused more on the bright side and peaceful protests. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X may have disagreed on the way to solve equality, but they had the same goal. In Martin Luther King’s Speech, it states, “ One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” In this line from Martin’s speech, it shows how civil rights has not changed over those hundred years (1860’s to 1960’s). In Malcolm X’s speech, it states, “So today, when the black man starts reaching out for what America says are his rights, the black man feels that he is within his rights-when he becomes the victim of brutality by those who are depriving him of his rights-to do whatever necessary to protect himself...” These two quotes from the speeches show how both of them have proved their point which achieved their common goal of equality. Martin Luther King Jr. focused more on peaceful equality and going against what the government had to say. He didn’t think that people should use violence to get what they wanted. “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.” This helps explain that Martin Luther King Jr. looks on the bright side and focuses on equality of everyone. He thinks that people of all races should be equal and have equal rights. Malcolm X focused more on defending yourself. This caused him to be a negative and more violent thinker. He portrayed whites as devils and told blacks to be proud of their race. In the text, it states, “There are 22,000,000 African Americans who are ready to fight for independence right here. When I say fight for independence right here, I don’t mean any non-violent fight, or turn-the-other-cheek fight. Those days are gone.” This quote from Malcolm X’s speech shows how he believed that using peaceful protests and nonviolence was not going to get him any where. It showed how he believed that they had to really fight and defend themselves for what they wanted. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were two different people from two different backgrounds, and two different religions, but they wanted the same thing. Although they disagreed with each other they helped everyone have equal rights. By: Amber Pietz
Martain Pietz realizes that he is actually here, 6 weeks after D-Day on July 22nd, 1944 he hikes up Utah beach in Normandy, France. Weeks ago he was at home in Wisconsin with his wife Lois and newborn son Colin, but now he is fighting in World War 2 for his country. “Gather around men. All in the 5th Armored Division follow me,” said the first Lieutenant, “we need to start our mission across France.” Martain Pietz now realized that today the adventure begins. The troops now started their way toward France. It's a long hard road for the 5th Armored Division but in 59 days they will arrive in the small country known as Luxembourg. *** As lead tank, Martain Pietz would have to keep an eye out for any German troops in their way. Panthers were something that they had to look for, and Panthers are German tanks. As they entered the country they were now on their way to the capital Luxembourg City, and Martain Pietz saw a Panther that was 60 yards away driving the other way. He had directions not to shoot at it but with an opportunity like this he thought it must be done. “Pull back!” said the commanding officer over the radio. “No, hit the gas! Load AP!” Martain Pietz shouted. The only way to destroy a German tank was to get close to it then fire. They raced to about 20 yards then fired a single shot at the German tank, setting it up into flames. Martain Pietz had done it! He just knocked out a German tank. Suddenly, he looked up and saw another 4 German tanks on the top of the hill in front of him. He gave directions to turn and fire and that's what they did. They hit one of the tanks but also got hit in a wheel. They also blew up a farmhouse that belonged to a Luxembourgish family. The family had a 5 year old boy that was in the basement at the time of the battle. Martain Pietz gave orders to pull around the hill, and a Jeep pulled up with General Oliver and Prince Felix. “Just what rank are you, young man?” asked General Oliver. “I’m second Lieutenant sir.” said Martain Pietz. “You’re wrong, you have been promoted to first Lieutenant.” General Oliver explained. “Thank you sir. I think you and the other gentleman are in danger here.” “Just because I promoted you doesn’t mean you get to tell me what to do.” Prince Felix was anxious to get into the city, so they brought up artillery and airplanes to take away the 4 tanks. They were unable to before dark. The next morning the tanks were gone. As his tank was being repaired, Martain Pietz brought two of his tank crew members and hiked up the road until they saw a little cafe, and they all sat down and had a drink. *** The troops were in Luxembourg City and a local man came up to the troops and thanked the Americans for all they have done in Luxembourg. “Thank you so much for helping our country, is there anything I can get you for helping Luxembourg.” said the man. “Can you just get us a frying pan?” asked Martain Pietz. He wanted a frying pan because the soldiers had nothing to fry their eggs on. Fried eggs was something very rare during World War 2. “Of course,” the man ran off and returned with a frying pan in his hands, “here you go sir.” “Thank you young man.” This again became another famous Pietz story. *** The American soldiers liberated Luxembourg. Part of it was because of the bravery of Martain Pietz. There were many times he didn’t know if he would make it back, but he just kept fighting. After the war he didn’t take anything for granted. He loved his family and became more brave and enjoyed his life. The 5 year old boy is still living in Luxembourg in the same farmhouse Martain Pietz blew up. He grew up and wrote and published a book about World War 2, which had pictures of Martain Pietz and letters that he wrote. Mostly everything in Luxembourg is still there from 1944, and that little cafe has grown. People all over Europe are still finding pieces of rubble from World War 2. Martain Pietz passed April 2000. He will always be remembered in the Pietz family and in the country of Luxembourg as a hero that has an infinite amount of bravery that helped liberate the country of Luxembourg. 72 years after 1944, in 2016 Martain’s grandson Mark brought his family Janet, Amber, and Tyler to Normandy, France where Utah beach is, and Luxembourg to see where his grandfather was and what he saw in 1944. |
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