When War Shatters Families

I once traveled in Africa when I was a college student and talked with a local village elder whose weathered face revealed a harsh life, caused by years of war. He told me, “When elephants fight, the grass gets trampled.” In other words, when the politically powerful opt for war, it’s the little people who endure the brunt of it.

As we approach a new year, these wise words still resonate. Conflict and violence dominate the lives of politically insignificant people mostly—women and their children.

Just imagine being a young mother with a handful of children, living in a war-torn neighborhood. You no longer possess a home, the first casualty of conflict. Your newly displaced life is centered on finding a safe haven for your children. School is no longer a regular routine for your kids. The seeds of a better future are destroyed.

Whether it is daylight or night, the air is engulfed with fear. Your children can see it in your own eyes, even when you tell them it will be okay. Your eyes can’t hide the threat of attack, the sound of gunfire, looters and scavengers who will steal what little you have, the stench of poverty or the bodies that line the streets. You just want to cocoon your scared family with a wall of security and pray that everything would just go away. But it doesn’t.

There is an army of people out there—somewhere—wanting to help rebuild your life, your neighborhood. But they just don’t seem to reach you. You’re like Rose, in the movie Titanic, paddling - desperately, trying to shout for help at the nearest rescue boat.

War is hell. Especially for families.

But the family I describe is not an Iraqi one-caught in a war-torn neighborhood of Baghdad or Fallouja. It’s an American family, falling through the cracks of our country’s social safety net, and ending up on the streets.

The war is the battle against homelessness. Every day it shatters the lives of families. Domestic violence or lost employment causes these families to lose their homes. The search for a safe haven, the death of a school routine, the threat of personal attacks is real.

There certainly is an army of Good Samaritans out there—non-profit organizations, faith-based groups, and people wanting to help—but there are not enough troops to rebuild their lives, to rebuild our communities.

If only we had more troops, better equipment, and more money to fight this battle against homelessness. If only the political elephants in our community would join together to end this terrible community scourge, then perhaps families in our neighborhoods would not be trampled on by the effects of homelessness.