CPTnet
18 May 2005
COLOMBIA REFLECTION: "We must not scare the children, because we can cut off
their hearts' wings"
by Sandra Rincon, translated by Joel Klassen
When I heard one of the oldest residents of the communities of the Opón
say these words, I wondered: What does it mean to cut off the heart's
wings? A series of images began to pass through my head and the answer
seemed obvious and painful, for children, for men and for women.
Children who see their parents killed or see their mothers' bodies mutilated
by violence. Children who are mercilessly beaten by those close to them.
Children who are forced to leave a green and free countryside where they can
play barefoot and go to a cold, grey city that looks down on them because
they have dirty faces. Children who stop smiling for joy at hearing the
song of a bird or at seeing monkeys jumping between trees, and start crying
because of the cold of the city and the hardness of the faces around them.
Children who in every glance directed their way search for hope, comfort and
protection. Children who suffer hunger, thirst, and who lack a loving home.
Children who give up dreaming of sun-filled dawns, and learn to live with
grey dusks. Children who exchange their fantastic toys and games for arms,
forced work, abandonment and disillusion.
How many times have the wings of our hearts been cut by the hard reality of
our family, our society, and our world? How many times have we ourselves cut
the wings of other people's hearts? How many times have we cut the wings of
our own hearts? How many times have our wings grown back again? How many
times will the wings of the hearts of today's children grow back? When will
our shared life become a story where every time we open our hands, the heart
of one of us will fly to freedom and happiness? Is this scenario an
illusion? Now that we are grown-up, could it be that we fear that our
hearts might fly? Even though we have wings?
After I had spent time thinking of these images, I looked around, and three
children of the community were running toward me, and one of them, maybe the
shyest, came very quickly and gave me a kiss on the cheek: Did I feel my
heart was starting to fly?
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