Conflict rarely leaves one unscathed
Scars, fear, loss of hope and faith. These are all outcomes of the difficulty that lies within a conflict. The precise definition of conflict refers to arguments and disputes which in many cases escalates into becoming a threat to an individual’s life, family or country. It has a major impact on an individual’s life as conflict barely leaves one unscathed. The after effect of conflict leaves some individuals to be scarred for a short period of time and some for life. The key factors of encountering conflict will be focused on the consequences and impacts of conflicts encountered by individuals. They include, the adversities faced by individuals and surroundings due to the circumstances of certain conflicts, the change within oneself that is discovered through conflict, and the drastic aftermath attached.
Conflict is a part of life which is better resolved, as it may influence others, who are no involved, to face difficulties due to the circumstances that come along. Some conflicts can occur based simply on our perspectives and judgments on sensitive issues. We as individuals need to learn to accept things the way they are. This idea is demonstrated in an American film, ‘Remember the Titans’, directed by Boaz Yakin, which proves how our perspective on certain things can create dilemmas. The film demonstrates the impact of sensitive issues related to conflict, such as racism. The clashes that occur as impact of racism between individuals is depicted through a football team named Titans. It also reflects on the black community who have been segregated from the white community for years, resulting in hardship for those American footballers to struggle to accept African American footballers as a part of their team. As a result of the lack of trust and respect for one another, the blacks’ and whites’ encounter several clashes before overcoming the distrust and misunderstanding forming a unity. All these conflicts and clashes are caused due to individuals being ignorant and narrow-minded when making choices, often basing their decisions on the majority misinterpreting their views to be correct, which is rarely the case. This misinterpretation leads the victims of racism and other issues related to feel disconnected from the society, leaving many a wound behind.
Sometimes the problems we come across influence our thinking. Quite often it is seen that we as individuals start to take things for granted. We don’t realise how lucky we are for the things we are blessed with in life. There are many things that we tend to overlook, things such as the sufferings and hardship of millions of people throughout the world who struggle to live a half- decent life in developing countries. Likewise, the video, ‘children of conflict-Afghanistan’, clearly exemplifies the struggle, poverty, and miseries of many children due to the never-ending internal conflict in Afghanistan. ‘War has affected us in a way that made our lives horrible. And we lost our parents, we became orphans’, this is a little snapshot from one of the many children in Afghanistan that are currently suffering several hardship to live a decent life. Most children have to work from an early age to support their family which prevents them from accomplishing further education. Similarly, there are many other things these children are forced to endure due to their circumstances, such as accepting their life as an orphan. In our world, in Australia, things are different. We hardly know what the struggle that these kids are going through feels like. This video significantly demonstrates that we as individuals are living a blessed life, and that despite the countless little problems we encounter, our scars will never be as deep as those of the children suffering in Afghanistan at this moment.
Many conflicts are definite which follow unfair consequences. Sometimes the circumstances are different, where we don’t really have a choice. The only way to deal with the problem is to face it. In a place like Afghanistan, war is the one thing that is ongoing and certain causing significant amount of innocents to be victimised. In the same way, the novel, ‘The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif’ by Robert Hillman and Najaf Mazari portrays the character of Najaf as a victim of the unfair consequences lead by the wars throughout his life in Afghanistan. A series of misfortune defines the experiences Najaf comes across in his life. The death of his father and two brothers, and the separation from his wife and daughter are the tragic consequences he pays for being a victim of conflict. All the experiences he endures as an aftermath of these conflicts leave a permanent scar in Najaf’s life. This illustrates that sometimes life portrays us as puppets, manipulated, taken over and controlled by the surrounding, with no opportunity to embrace the sense of liberty.’
The events from the past have served as proof that conflict leaves a mammoth effect on the surroundings. The circumstances of a conflict are sometimes complex leading individuals to come across many difficulties. Moreover, quite often witnessing the struggle of others as a result of the unfair consequences of conflict can impact and shape our lives to some extent. The effect of encountering conflict leads us as individuals to be scarred and scathed influencing a memory which never seems to fade away, a memory which remains within us for a lifetime. As conveyed by Rose F. Kennedy, “it has been said ‘time heals all wounds’. I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissues and the pain lessens, but it is never gone.”