Please, God, Stop the War: A Child’s Cry from Ukraine

Sometimes, the most profound cries for peace are not made by world leaders or famous writers, but by children. Today, I want to share with you a letter written by a 10-year-old boy in Ukraine — a letter he wrote to God. The boy who wrote this attended the Novi Community Essay competition last winter. Like hundreds of other chileren, he sat down and wrote his thoughts about the war. His was the only one addressed to God.

Letter to God
 
I want to write a letter to God.
Can I? I'm not sure...
Maybe it doesn't matter. I'll write it anyway, as best I can.
 
And I'll ask just one question:
When will the war end?
If this is our punishment, then is it the children's fault?
 
Maybe I didn't listen to my mother.
Maybe I didn’t learn my lessons properly.
Once, I broke a table lamp.
Is this the reason for our troubles?
Is this why we lost our childhood?
Our families?
Our homes and our gardens?
 
We have been hiding in shelters for years.
I have long atoned for my guilt:
I study well,
I take care of my mother,
And I promise — I will repair the broken lamp, or buy a new one!
 
Forgive us, God. Have mercy on us.
But please — stop this bloody war!
Because to be honest, it’s no longer enough to lose every day.
STOP THE WAR!!!
 
Mothers, grandmothers, sisters, and teachers read letters like these every day.
But they do not reach You, God.
Otherwise, You would have ended this terrible war.
You would have stopped the evil that has been killing soldiers — and their children — for years.
 
Then our mothers would not cry through sleepless nights,
With the loud air raid alarms,
With rockets and planes flying overhead.
 
Still, we do not lose faith.
And so we write… we write… letters to God.

-Kovalev, Oster, Ukraine, 10 years old

I don't know if God reads these letters. But I know we do. And maybe, in reading them, we are called to be His hands — to comfort, to protect, to fight for peace. May we not ignore the cries of children.

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