Negative Impacts of War Essay
“War- a state of conflict between different groups within a nation.” (Websters Dictionary). War causes families to get separated from their loved ones. War negatively impacts people as some countries that are in turmoil enlist child soldiers and ruin the lives of children. War creates chaos because many basic necessities of life are compromised during the war. Often humans do not receive enough water and suffer greatly. When kids are separated from their parents, kids get worried and afraid. Imagine being a kid, not knowing where your family is, running with other people you've never seen and in the hot desert.
Child soldiers (people under the age of 18) are used for any military purpose, some are in their late teens, while others may be as young as four. Most of the water is contaminated by military vehicles. In Long Walk to Water, Southern Sudan, most people did not have access to water during the war. Furthermore, the impact war has on soldiers is emotional, well-being and families are devasted. Military families get torn apart and deal with a lot of stress when their loved ones are at war. Families feel concern, worry, panic, loneliness, sadness, and have more duties and more responsibilities while their loved ones are at war. War creates chaos among nations and has a negative impact on the people in that area.
The Chaos
War creates chaos because families get separated, displaced or die during the war. When people are at war most of them end up dying. If 100 million people went to war, over 50 million would end up dying. It was reported that out of 60 million European soldiers who were in World War 1, 8 million people were killed, 7 million were disabled and around 15 million were seriously injured. The sad part is that is only one war. All around the world, there are many wars going on. People living in the war zones have been killed in their homes, in markets, and on roadways.
They have been killed by bombs, bullets, fire, and explosive devices. Death can also happen weeks or months after a battle. Many times people have died as a result of bad health conditions from the wars. For example, war refugees often lose access to the food supply or to their jobs and end up in a disease. In Long Walk to Water, Slava was separated from his family for over 21 years during the war. Over 2 million people died, 4 million people were displaced and over 17 thousand people ran from their villages and were deemed the “lost boys.” The lost boys walked over 1800 miles across the desert while battling tigers, crocodiles, and hyenas. They eventually made it to Ethiopia where they lived in a refugee camp. During their journey, 5000 people died and 12,000 survived. This journey was very difficult because of the amount of food they had. Soldier’s families get very sad sometimes and deal with a lot of stress when their dads are at war.
War offers soldiers a terrible life energetic, terrifying, and full blast. According to Sebastian Junger, “It is insanely exciting. It is the worst thing in the world, inflicting both physical and emotional injuries, yet the people who have been through it often miss it terribly.” “There’s nothing like it in the world,” one Afghanistan veteran told Junger. “If it’s negative 20 degrees outside, you’re sweating. If it’s 120, you’re ice cold. It’s an adrenaline rush like you can’t imagine.” This is the feeling of war, the majority of people who have fought in the war, feel this way.
They think it is terrible but exciting. As most soldiers had gone to fight in the war, women had to replace men in the workforce. This put a lot of pressure upon the older children in the family as they had to take care of the household duties and any younger children. Many of the men who came back from the war were suffering from serious injuries, the effects of mustard gas and shell shock. They were to forced to talk about their experiences and often it would take them a long time to recover from the trauma of the war. This meant that some women had become responsible for supporting the entire family. The children were scared about their Dad’s going to war because they might not see them again. However, some children were confused when their fathers did return because they did not understand the effects of trauma on their fathers and didn’t know how to communicate with them. Salva’s mother had to take care of her family because Salva’s father was in the hospital battling a stomach problem.
Child Soldiers
Countries enlist child soldiers to fight to protect their country. When war breaks out sizes of armies matter so armies need more men to fight. Underaged soldiers are subjected to violence, sexual assaults, and mature situations. They're used for fighting, to kill and commit other acts of violence. Others are used as cooks, messengers, informers or spies, or in any other way their commanders want. Unfortunately, the reality is that many female soldiers have a good chance of being sexually assaulted.
Military organizations that recruit children find them easier than adults to force into service. In general, children obey the rules and are much easier to manipulate. Some children choose to join a military organization as a way of making up for the loss of family or a lack of education. One reason children were on the battlefield was that many people at the start of the 20th Century did not have birth certificates, so it was easy to lie about their age. Some young boys were scared of being called a coward and could not resist the pressure.
“Water is indispensable to human life”. Water is essential to life and war negatively impacts the availability of clean water. The body uses water in all of its cells, organs, and tissues to help keep its temperature and maintain other bodily functions and without it, humans are negatively impacted. The human body loses water through breathing, sweating, and digestion. It is important to rehydrate by drinking water and eating foods that include water.
During the war, it is really hard to get all the water that you need, because much of the water is contaminated. In the Long Walk to Water, Salva found his father in a hospital because his father was drinking dirty water. His father's stomach was filled with bugs and insects because of the water. The water supply in “war zones” is often contaminated by oil from military vehicles, which causes no clean water for anyone during war. Salva Dut is the main character in Long Walk to Water and creator and leader for Water for South Sudan (WFSS.) WFSS gives water to South Sudan to improve the quality of life of those in war.
When slava was 11 his country was at war, and Salva ran from his village. When Salva was running he faced many obstacles along the way including lack of clean water. Salva was with a group of people with not very much water and not very much food. Once their group made it to the refugee camp Salva got a chance to go to America.
In conclusion, war creates disasters among nations and has a bad impact on the people in that area. War causes families to get separated from each other. If a kid gets displaced or separated from their family, the kid would be very afraid. Imagine being a 10 year old kid that has no family and nowhere to live. Countries, not war-torn areas are in disbelief that a child will go to war. Child soldiers are children who are used for military reasons, and they miss out on being a child.
They do not attend school, miss their family and friends and do not get a chance to have fun outside as most kids do. During war clean water is very limited. More than half the water during a war is contaminated by military vehicles. Therefore people don't have access to clean water which negatively impacts their health. In South Sudan, most people don't have access to basic things like they do in North America, and it's even harder to have when there is a war happening.
Furthermore, the impact war has on soldiers emotional well-being and their families is devasting. Sometimes, when their dads are at war, military families get very sad and deal with a lot of stress. Families feel concerned, worried, panicked, lonely, and sad. They have more duties and more responsibilities, and fear for the safety of their family member. War negatively impacts people as some countries that are in turmoil enlist child soldiers and ruin the lives of children.
