On Monday evening, a candlelit vigil was held in the Chapel. Those present prayed for peace and reflected on the suffering of those caught up in the war. Our children are very good at supporting one another, and I know that many reassuring conversations have taken place in boarding houses. In assemblies, we have talked about the importance of being critically reflective when looking at online content. Children can feel overwhelmed by the graphic nature of images and reports which flood across the internet with an immediacy which provides little opportunity to process and/or contextualize.
On Saturday morning, the Ayatollah of Iran and many of the country’s senior military commanders were killed when up to thirty bombs fell on the presidential compound in Tehran. This was the result of a coordinated strike carried out by the United States of America and Israel. By Saturday afternoon, Iran had launched retaliatory strikes against US assets in the Middle East. Subsequently, Gulf states such as Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have all come under attack. Having lived and worked in Abu Dhabi for several years, it is worrying and upsetting to see the city, which was once our home, coming under attack. I checked in with a friend who still lives in Abu Dhabi on Saturday evening. He described driving home with his daughter from her weekly rugby training session and seeing interceptor missiles seeking their targets in the skies above.
There is a complex geopolitical context to the events which are currently playing out in the Middle East. Similarly, there are religious and cultural factors that contribute towards the formation of competing and conflicting perspectives. Our personal understanding of such events is most likely informed by the political and belief systems within which we have been educated. Of course, there are interesting and important debates to be had about sovereignty, human rights, democracy and what does or does not constitute a legitimate or ‘just’ war.
Thankfully, in a community such as ours, we are able to have political debates within an environment which feels both respectful and safe. We should not forget that there are many young people in our world who are denied the fundamental right to freedom of speech. For many, the expression of a political opinion carries the risk of imprisonment or death.
The first war to be covered by what we might recognize to be a ‘war reporter’ was the Crimea War (1853-56). During the early stages of the war, dispatches from the front took nearly three weeks to reach London. However, the invention of electronic telegraph transformed communication. Cables were laid across Europe and, by the latter part of the Crimean War, communication between correspondents in Sevastopol and newspaper editors in London was all but instantaneous. Still, there remained a significant delay before such news reached the general public.
Graphic images from warzones now reach us with an immediacy which would have been unthinkable even thirty or forty years ago. Furthermore, the Internet is awash with misinformation which uses pernicious algorithms to find receptive audiences. Artificial intelligence has made it very easy to create fake news stories that appear entirely convincing. Consequently, it is important for us to exercise discernment in our use of online sources. There are many reputable and reliable sources of information available to us, but there are also many articles or opinion pieces that are heavily reliant upon unverifiable, unreliable, or non-existent sources. It is important that we are critically reflective and consider the nature, origin, purpose, and intended audience of the sources we are watching or reading. Most importantly, we must remember the human stories that lie behind the headlines and images and reflect upon the immense suffering caused to all those who find themselves caught up in the maelstrom of war. Whatever our political affiliations or personal allegiances, we should extend compassion and kindness to all those who find themselves suffering simply because they were born, or living and working, in the wrong place or at the wrong time. One day, it could be us in that situation.
I am acutely conscious of the fact that many of us will have family members or friends living in Middle Eastern countries directly or indirectly affected by recent events. If you are feeling a little anxious about them, then I do hope very much that you will feel love, compassion, and reassurance from those around you. Bradfield is an enormously special community, and at times such as this, I know that we support one another with absolute gentleness and heartfelt empathy. Please be very kind and sensitive to the fact that some of your friends may well feel unsettled over the next little while. Be a good listener and make sure that you are a friend who radiates reassurance and provides a very real sense of comfort. Of course, if you are personally worried or worried about a friend, then do share these concerns with a member of staff and we will help.
