(World Day of War Orphans) Write a story about a child orphaned by war.

I'll be honest. This prompt greatly conflicted me. First of all, I had no idea there was such a day alloted for orphan awareness. Secondly, I had never imagined that, in our world, the number of children that were collaterally damaged by war was so vast. I didn't know whether to be ashamed of my ignorance or angry; because now, with this knowledge, my innocence would be forever lost. My soul would demand that I learn more, pray more, do something, even ever so small.

The challenge called for writing fiction. But, for me, I felt totally unworthy of this task. The closest to understanding an orphan's psyche and world was when my mother left my father, leaving me an emotional orphan, and the bitter war was one that ensued between them for years to come. Any child of divorce is never unscathed and more often than not, caught in the middle, being pulled and tugged, learning the lessons of guilt and betrayal and shame for loving the "other" parent. And sometimes if left behind (in abandonment,) there is a feeling of being rejected and sensing your own unworthiness.

But, even as ugly as divorce had been in my life, I could not imagine the experience and trauma of of an actual war as the crux of being ripped away from the only love and security which a parent offers in a child's life.

But then I thought of the war on drugs and addictions and poverty in our communities, states, country, and the world. And there is no reprieve from the horror of this sickness and the toll it takes. I have lost a grandchild in that war...to heroin.

The best I can offer to this challenge, is my further education into this tsunami of pain. And address this as a social commentary and call for all of us to become aware and make a stand. Victims (children) are often abused, exploited, trafficked. They are twice victimized in the wars they have no voice in. I am unqualified to tell their story, maybe because I am too entrenched in the pain, but maybe I do not understand it well enough. I find myself inadequate.