Hanan Al -Khalfan
At the time of the Gulf War, we were children who did not understand what was going on around us, but we felt that something heavy was giving up at home. Our families were moving with cautious silence, closing the windows, sticking the ends of the air conditioners with the adhesive tape, and lowering the sound of the news, as if they were afraid that fear will leak with the air. We were sharing these rituals without knowing the reason, carrying the adhesive tape innocently, and we think that everything is just a new game in the corner of the house. We did not know why the features of adults suddenly changed, nor why the night would become more silent than usual.
The war at the time occurred in a far place, and it was narrated with the tongue of adults only, while we are continuing to play in the shadow of a soft ignorance, a Hamana of anxiety, and kept childhood as it should be: light, warm, safe.
Today, there is no ignorance that protects, nor a distance protects. Children of this generation see everything. With audio, image, comment and trend. They see children under the rubble, hear their screams, and they pursue the details of the news, moment by moment, on their small screens, which opened a wide window to a world that passes conflicts and collapses.
And because they see everything, their questions are greater than their ages: “Why does that happen? Will it reach us? » They are questions that they do not always find someone to answer, nor who contains the anxiety that their long silence hides behind the screens.
We are in front of a generation that knows more. A generation is analyzed before he is fortified, and sees disasters as if it is a mirror of its fate, not just a transient news. Here lies the seriousness of the stage, not in the size of knowledge, but in the absence of guidance, and leaving the child alone faces a harsh world in adult language, without granting the right to reassurance in the language of children.
In psychology, this condition is called “digital shock”, a shock that does not arise from direct experience, but rather from repeated and random exposure to shocking scenes via digital media. The child is identified with the victim, and he feels impotence and fear as if he was the next. If he does not find someone who sees him, his screen turns into a permanent source of emotional threat.
Here, the solution is not in prohibition or denial, but rather in embrace and guidance. Children do not need a cognitive gag, but rather to safe dialogues, explaining to them what they see without intimidation, and restores them their confidence in that someone who protects them. There is a state, a family, and a school, understanding their anxiety and giving them meaning, not panic.
From this standpoint, the importance of the official speech adopted by the Bahraini leadership emerged during the recent regional crises, which was not limited to the military and political aspects, but rather provided clear national reassurance messages. The statements of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the monarch of the country, and His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Prime Minister, carried between its lines beyond the official data: carried messages of trust, clarity, and real reassurance for every home.
In this context, it is necessary to pay tribute to the statements of His Excellency the first team, Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, the Minister of Interior, which was characterized by clarity and responsibility, and stressed that security is not an emergency case but a daily practice that is managed with an eye and wise mind. This type of discourse, when it is presented with the feelings of people, not only reassures adults, but also draws a picture of a country that does not leave them alone in front of fear.
When the child hears from his father: “Our leaders follow, protect and reassure them.” He feels that the homeland is not just a map, but a broad bosom, and that he is not alone in front of the storm, but rather in a state that protects its heart before its borders.
Frankly, today’s generation cannot be isolated from the world, but it can be contained with love, understanding and awareness. It is a generation that sees everything, so let us not see everything alone.
