For those of us who are old enough to remember, this was the title of Sting’s song, "The Russians Love their Children Too" at the height of the Cold War, when the level of hatred for Russians had reached its highest. The song gently reminded us about the fundamental fact that no matter what country or political ideology we belong to, we are human first, and we have the same human emotions, such as love for our children.
The message in the song is still fresh and clear. It points us to the universal fact that parents everywhere love their children, worry about their future, and fear losing them.
Once again, the world has so much hatred and negative feelings. In particular, negative feelings toward Russia because of the war and the destruction in Ukraine.
The mass media’s coverage of this devastating war is comprehensive and detailed. Every death and bombarding is shown. Every tear shed, every story of Ukrainian suffering is reported.
Sadly, what is missing is seeing the faces of the dead Russian soldier’s mother and father, who do not even know where their son’s body lies. These soldiers were forced to leave home away from their parents to fight a war they most likely did not want. They were killed and left behind the heartbreak for their grieving parents. The media has no access to these parents so that they can share their pain and agony, and that is a tragedy because “The Russians love their children too.”
Any human death is a tragedy. It does not matter if they are Ukrainian, Russian, American or German. The savagery of war has to stop.
“For thousands of years men and nations have gone forth to the battlefield to settle their differences. The cause of this has been ignorance and degeneracy. Praise be to God! In this radiant century minds have developed, perceptions have become keener, eyes are illumined and ears attentive. Therefore, it will be impossible for war to continue. Consider human ignorance and inconsistency. A man who kills another man is punished by execution, but a military genius who kills one hundred thousand of his fellow creatures is immortalized as a hero. One man steals a small sum of money and is imprisoned as a thief. Another pillages a whole country and is honored as a patriot and conqueror. A single falsehood brings reproach and censure, but the wiles of politicians and diplomats excite the admiration and praise of a nation!” -Abdu’l-Bahá
How long does humanity need to realize that there is no winning for those who died and left behind their families to grieve? It is so sad that the young who have their whole lives ahead of them must pay the ultimate price of life in every war. How much longer will we glorify killings in our psyche and culture through songs and movies? We can if we want to put all these energies into educating humanity on ways to settle disputes through reasoning and peaceful methods.
We can not even imagine the amount of money and resources that could be saved by the nations not stockpiling weapons. All these savings could be used for constructive purposes such as eradicating diseases and eliminating poverty.
As we mourn every death in Ukraine, mourn the destruction of the country and other parts of the globe, let us also grieve with the mothers and fathers of the dead Russian soldiers who died by following orders. Those parents loved their children too.
Badi Shams is a Baha’i and a mystic at heart. His field of interest is economics; he has published "Economics of the Future" and "Economics of the Future Begins Today" and recently written the books "Random Thoughts of a Mystic Economist" and "Towards a New Spiritual Economic System." You can find Badi's website at badishams.net called "Baha'i Inspired Economics" He is retired from the education system
You can read more articles on our interfaith blog. Spiritually Speaking, HERE: https://www.timescolonist.com/blogs/spiritually-speaking
