You shouldn’t have watched the news on TV

You shouldn’t have watched the news on TV. But now it’s too late — you’ve seen them. You’ve seen them, these people, and children like you, running away from a ruined building in the smoke of fires.

You are scared to see them running and screaming, especially the children, just like you. And you would rather not see them at all: they might come to your dreams at night, and such dreams are scary. Your small white hair on your small hands is standing up in fear.

But wait, what happened to the building? And who did this? And why?

You look at your parents. Your eyes ask: Mommy, are we safe here? Will Daddy protect us if it happens to our house? Your parents look back at you and think that you shouldn’t have watched this. Or maybe, you should. To remember.

And you will remember.

Blood and dirt on a little boy’s, just like yours, face.

Human legs — only legs — lying there without motion, with only one shoe left.

That woman, held by two men, stretching her hands towards the ruined building. Her crazy eyes search in vain for a small body eaten by the ruins.

You will also remember some children without hair (the man on TV says it was a children's hospital), lying on the ground, their skinny hands connected to a strange system by doctors in dirty white robes.

This is too strange and you shouldn’t have watched this at all. You would better go and play with your doll. The doll will be a doctor in a white robe, it will save other dolls, some with no hair, lying around her.