Am I my brother's keeper?

I have been haunted by something that happened a few weeks ago while I was in the car with my kids.

I’d picked up three of my girls friends to take with us to church. The eldest was going to MYF with Clara. The two younger girls were coming back to my house to play with Ava. These kids are refugees from East Africa. They are hilarious, fun loving, sweet... kids.

We were talking about animals. The girls were asking about our cats and dogs - which they’ve been afraid of every time they’ve been to our house. There are not many house pets in refugee camps, and dogs especially were not friendly to them in Africa. But the girls seemed like they wanted to get over their fears. Our cats intrigue them.

Anyway, they started regaling us with tales of animals that they had seen and liked. Giraffes, elephants, monkeys, snakes. We were all laughing. Clara started telling them how afraid I was of snakes and everyone proceded to make fun of me. I’m cool with it. My fear of snakes doesn’t make much sense, but it’s not one of those fears I’m eager to face. (Please, don’t bring a snake to the office to help me get over my fear, please).

I finally said,” Fine, fine, everyone make fun of me, what are you guys afraid of?” The eldest replied easily, “the soldiers.”

I caught my breath.

Then all three children broke out with descriptions of how scary the soldiers were and when you saw them you better run before the bullets started and people started falling all around you.

These kids are 6 and 8 and 14. This is their experience.

The kids all continued in their conversations as if nothing had happened. I felt like the ground had shifted underneath my feet.

I still do.

Am, I my brother’s keeper? What do I do with this?

I don’t know. But I'm listening God.

I'm listening.