When currency of life is devalued, no longer exchangeable, just disposable

This rather personal missive landed in my in-box through Tumaini’s grandma’s network. Its author is in London; the granny is in Congo, but it is about Mpeketoni, and it contains grains of wisdom worth sharing with my readers. I shall reproduce the note in its entirety:

In the aftermath of Mpeketoni, I am made aware of how conflicts have changed. I was in Britain during most of the years of the provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) campaign for independence from UK.

Disrupt economy

In this earlier introduction to guerrilla warfare when the IRA decided, as they put it, “to bring the war to Westminster,” they planted bombs all over strategic sites in the UK.

But we had warnings, buildings were cleared, the objective was to disrupt the British economy, not to massacre hundreds of civilians going about their lives.

Things have changed; the currency of life has become so devalued, it is no longer exchangeable, just disposable. Including the lives of the many young men and women who are brainwashed, desensitised, coerced and enticed to carry out despicable acts of violence; including US soldiers of Abu Ghraib who lost their boundaries; including Kenyan soldiers who razed Kismayu and all the women and children therein; including the Kenya Defence Forces at Westgate, distracted from their duty to protect by the glitter of Mammon.  

The question is, how are we to sensitise our children to these issues, in this era of soundbite news, where Mpeketoni is replaced by other breaking news in less than one hour?