{"id":2963,"date":"2023-09-07T10:01:21","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T14:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=2963"},"modified":"2023-09-07T10:01:21","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T14:01:21","slug":"a-childs-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2023\/09\/07\/a-childs-letter\/","title":{"rendered":"A Child’s Letter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to this reflection as a podcast,<\/em> <\/a>click here<\/a>

Seven years ago this summer, Omran Daqneesh became known simply as the Syrian Boy.

Dazed, covered with dirt and blood, the five-year-old sat in an ambulance after an August 17, 2016, airstrike reduced his home in Aleppo to a heap of ruins.\u00a0

Omran gave the world a face to remember as people tried to come to terms with the horrific Syrian civil war.

His picture above, which appeared in newspapers and on websites the world over, quickly became an emotional talking point.\u00a0 Were Western journalists trying to manipulate global opinion concerning Syria?\u00a0 Did one of the warring factions photoshop the image?\u00a0 Who stood to gain by exploiting this painful moment in the life of a child? \u00a0\u00a0

A six-year-old American boy named Alex, who lives with his family outside New York City, didn\u2019t wrestle with any of those questions.\u00a0 Instead, he penned the following letter to the White House:

Dear President Obama,<\/em>

Remember the boy who was picked up by the ambulance in Syria?\u00a0 Can you please go get him and bring him to [my home]?<\/em>

Park in the driveway or on the street and we will be waiting for you guys with flags, flowers, and balloons.\u00a0 We will give him a family and he will be our brother.\u00a0 Catherine, my little sister, will be collecting butterflies and fireflies for him.<\/em>

In my school, I have a friend from Syria, Omar, and I will introduce him to [Omran].\u00a0 We can all play together.\u00a0 We can invite him to birthday parties and he will teach us another language.\u00a0 We can teach him English, too, just like my friend Aoto from Japan.<\/em>

Please tell him that his brother will be Alex who is a very kind boy, just like him.\u00a0 Since he won\u2019t bring toys and doesn\u2019t have toys Catherine will share her big blue stripey white bunny.\u00a0 And I will share my bike and I will teach him how to ride it.<\/em>

I will teach him additions and subtractions in math.\u00a0 And he [can] smell Catherine\u2019s lip gloss penguin which is green.\u00a0 She doesn\u2019t let anyone touch it.<\/em>

Thank you very much!\u00a0 I can\u2019t wait for you to come!<\/em>

Alex<\/em>
6 years old<\/em>

If you\u2019ve ever wondered whether a child\u2019s letter actually comes to the attention of the leader of the Free World, you might be surprised to learn that President Obama read Alex\u2019s handwritten note at a meeting of the United Nations Leaders\u2019 Summit on Refugees.\u00a0

He struggled to control his emotions.

Jesus said that unless we become like children \u2013 like Alex \u2013 we\u2019ll always be standing on the outside of God\u2019s kingdom, looking in.\u00a0

What will it look like when the words of the Lord\u2019s Prayer finally come true:\u00a0when God\u2019s kingdom comes and God\u2019s will is done \u201con earth as it is in heaven\u201d?

People will collect butterflies and fireflies to give to those who hurt.\u00a0 They will invite others into their families and share their bikes and big blue stripey white bunnies.

And they will form welcoming committees to greet each other with flags, flowers, and balloons.

That is more than just a child\u2019s dream.

It\u2019s a dream worth living for, praying for, and working for every day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here Seven years ago this summer, Omran Daqneesh became known simply as the Syrian Boy. Dazed, covered with dirt and blood, the five-year-old sat in an ambulance after an August 17, 2016, airstrike reduced his home in Aleppo to a heap of ruins.\u00a0 Omran gave the world a face to remember… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2964,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[632],"class_list":["post-2963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-gods-kingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2963"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2965,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2963\/revisions\/2965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}