The Reality Of War.

By Zia and Sanya.

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the futility of war…

The violence.

The bloodshed.

The screams and the cries, the way families are torn apart, babies ripped from their mother’s arms, men and boys sent off to bleed and explode, women and girls violated and abused in the vilest and most horrific of ways, civilisations bombed and destroyed, torn down to ruins, smoke and ashes, people left to starve and rot and decay, left with the scars and trauma that they’ll never be able to forget…

All for a conflict they played no part in. A fight they never wanted, did not ask for.

Because normal people want to live in peace, harmony, happiness with their friends and family. We live simple little lives. We hope for good fortune, good weather, good health and good will, and we wish only to take care of each other.

Normal people do not ask for war.

Billionaires ask for war.

Capitalists ask for war.

The government asks for war.

But who in the world suffers the most, at the cost of war?

You guessed it.

Normal people.

Us.

Want to know why?

Because in the eyes of our oppressors, we are nothing more than disposable cattle. Weapons, tools, resources. Workers. Exchangeable, replaceable. Our governments do not see us as human, as sentient beings with lives and minds and hearts, but just profit to be exploited for personal gain. They are evil, filled with greed and lust and care for nothing but power and luxury, that they maintain on the backs of us normal people, that the oppressors always obtain on the backs of the oppressed.

We live in a world where our so-called “leaders” do not give a toss about us. That’s why the world is so broken.

That is why there is war.

Our world leaders are corrupt, the vilest monstrosities known to our species’ kind. They’re sadistic, twisted, psychopathic, with an unsatiable hunger for power and unquenchable thirst for blood. Thus, war is born. Dominance is asserted from one nation over another through the brutality, the slaughter of the innocent.

And while they sit on their high and mighty golden thrones — or should I say, presidential chairs — far too superior to be personally affected by the horrors being enacted, carried out, taking place beneath their feet, at their hands, it is us who die and suffer in vain, for people who would never condescend to do the same for us.

That, is it.

That is the reality of war.

Now, dear friend, I’d like you to read this beautiful poem by my wonderful and talented friend, Sanya. And understand, that every single word is a reflection, a testament to the unbearable suffering and agony the thousands upon millions of innocent people endure every single day because of war.

From yours truly,

— Zia B.

“Title: People Do Not Choose Wars, People Are Pushed Into Them”

I did not choose where I would be born

But I had to live and abide.

I did not choose my culture or norm

but I was taught to confide.

You shine among golden horizons,

While I learn how to hide.

I wasn’t born in the ease where you belong.

Each day, I must strive.

I go out and search for a slice

Wake my children and walk to the pond,

because there’s no cleaner choice.

I wipe their faces with a ragged shirt,

because they still deserve to be clean and bright.

I did not choose to be poor-

but this is my life.

Then one day, you announce

That my people, my nation,

are harbouring bombs.

We cry in surprise, stunned by your lie

but you begin a campaign-

narratives, fabricated proof, accusations.

And suddenly, I am the sinner.

You call me a terrorist

while I’m just trying to feed my child.

You call me names while I’m simply trying to survive.

You disgrace my people when you push those buttons.

You take a soul, you take a life

and still speak of peace with pride.

I don’t understand this standard.

You are a human like me,

made of same clay and water.

When you speak, it becomes a verse

but when I speak It becomes an offence

I don’t know why this is my life.

Some skins are sacred to you

while mine- disgusting, hideous.

You hate my skin, you hate my race,

You hate my land yet still, you want a taste.

of its minerals, of the land,

of the oil beneath our sand.

You call it regime change but it’s a raid

A theft under the shade…

that you shamefully name as aid.

You dress your hunger in diplomacy and grace,

while our mothers bury sons without a face.

You tell the world you’ve come to save

but all we see, are humiliated graves.

I don’t want your pity, I don’t need your tears.

I want my children, I want to live

without fear

To sleep without bombs, to wake without screams,

to walk through my soil, without becoming a meme.

This war, this label, this story you sell-

has never been mine…

You’ve ripped me of love, you’ve seized my dignity

and built a heaven for yourself

By stealing my family, by breaking the treaty;

So when you speak of peace again,

Bark it to the wind,

because we no longer trust your lips.

-Sanyaa

No one chooses their land, their family, or even their parents. These things are chosen for us. In many advanced civilizations, people gain autonomy once they grow up. They’re offered great opportunities and choices. But others aren’t so fortunate.

Some people, no matter how old they get, never taste the luxury of choice. Their governments sell them. Their lands are bartered like commodities. Global powers decide how they will live, where they will suffer, and when they will die.

They’re pushed into wars they never asked for, like pawns on a blood-stained chessboard just like the gladiators once were, forced to fight while others watched with wine and laughter.

I hate this side of life. I hate how human beings become puppets in someone else’s war. They didn’t choose this. They were born into it. And then they were betrayed.

That was all from Sanya.

And now, for Zia’s closing note…

This devastating cycle of the world will continue to repeat itself, over and over again, forever, until something finally changes.

Until us regular people FINALLY take a stand.

But until that happens, the people of the world will live in fear and suffer in silence from the horrors of the never-ending wars.

Against each other.

Against any marginalized group seen as “inferior”.

In spite of the fact that we are all human in the end, and we all bleed the same blood, some of us always want to act superior to others.

And it destroys us.

Below Sanya has attached and detailed the links for real examples of the horrific realities and devastating consequences of the innocent people who were unfortunate enough to live in a war-torn land, for those who are interested…

Civilian Harm and Human Rights Abuses Persist in Ukraine as War Enters Fourth Year.

More than 12,654 civilian men, women, girls, and boys have been killed, and over 29,392 injured since 24 February 2022, as verified by HRMMU.

End unfolding genocide or watch it end life in Gaza: UN experts say States face defining choice.

The group of experts cited over 52,535 deaths, of which 70 percent continue to be women and children, and 118,491 injuries as of 4 May 2025.

Around 365 million Christians are subject to “high levels of persecution and discrimination. ”This compared to 340 million in 2021

1 in 7 Christians are persecuted worldwide, including 1 in 5 in Africa and 1 in 7 in Asia. This compared to 1 in 8 worldwide in 2021

14,766 Churches and Christian properties were attacked.

North Korea, Somalia, Libya, Eritrea, and Yemen had the highest rates of reported persecution against Christians.

At least 6,700 Rohingya were killed in the first month of attacks, between 25 August and 24 September 2017.

The UN found evidence of wide-scale human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings; summary executions, gang rapes; arson of Rohingya villages, businesses, and schools; and infanticides.

UN humanitarian office puts Yemen war dead at 233,000, mostly from ‘indirect causes.’

Almost a quarter of a million people have died in Yemen’s war, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on its website on Tuesday, confirming the huge toll from a conflict that has ravaged Yemen’s economy and created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The events in Srebrenica in 1995 included the killing of more than 8,000 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men and boys, as well as the mass expulsion of another 25000–30000 Bosniak civilians by VRS units.

They stripped all the male Muslim prisoners, military and civilian, elderly and young, of their personal belongings and identification, and deliberately and methodically killed them solely on the basis of their identity.

Sudan: Civilian death toll triples in one week amid escalating hostilities.

As of early 2025, over 150,000 civilians have died—combining direct violence, starvation, disease, and displacement effects.

Africa-wide Civilian Deaths in Conflict:

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported at least 48,384 conflict-related civilian deaths globally in 2024, with marginalized groups hit hardest.

UN Human Rights Office estimates more than 306,000 civilians were killed over 10 years in Syria conflict.

The report, mandated by the UN Human Rights Council, referred to 143,350 civilian deaths that have been individually documented by various sources with detailed information, including at least their full name, date and location of death. A further 163,537 civilian deaths were estimated to have occurred, bringing the total estimated civilian death toll to 306,887.

The deep roots beneath 1,000,000 dead Iraqis.

The last complete census in Iraq conducted in 1997 found 4.05 million households in the country, a figure ORB used to calculate that approximately 1.03 million people had died as a result of the war.

The margin of error in the survey, conducted in August and September 2007, was 1.7 per cent, giving a range of deaths from 946,258 to 1.12 million people. The research covered 15 of Iraq’s 18 provinces.

Afghan War Casualties and Violations:

Since 1989, about 45,300 Afghan civilians have been recorded to have been killed or injured by landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW).

China and Minorities (Uyghur and Turkic)

Since 2014, the government of the People's Republic of China has committed a series of ongoing human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities has often been characterized as persecution or as genocide. There have been reports of mass arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, mass surveillance, cultural and religious persecution, family separation, forced labour, sexual violence, and violations of reproductive rights. Almost one million people are detained in camps.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki Destruction

On 6 and 9 August 1945, two atomic bombs were dropped by US over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, during World War II. The aerial bombings killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the only uses of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict.

Thank you so much for reading it :)

© Zia Barti, 2025. All rights reserved

Copyright© 2025 Sanya Kurd