What Is the Fault of Women, Elderly People, and Children

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Last night I was watching the news again. Discussions about war, politics, threats, and power struggles were everywhere. Every channel seemed to repeat the same tension surrounding Iran and the pressure coming from powerful countries like the United States and its ally Israel.
But while listening to all these discussions, a simple question came to my mind again and again.
What is the fault of women, elderly people, and children?
Imagine a normal family somewhere in a city in Iran. A mother preparing food in a small kitchen. An old father sitting outside in the evening air. Children opening their school notebooks and trying to finish homework.
They do not sit in political meetings. They do not make military decisions. Yet when conflicts begin, their lives change first.
Reports from recent tensions show that thousands of people have been killed or injured in a short time, and many of them were ordinary civilians. Among those affected were women, elderly people, and children who had nothing to do with the political decisions behind the conflict.
Sometimes I think about a child living in such a place. That child only knows school, toys, friends, and dreams about the future. Suddenly the sounds of fear replace the sounds of laughter.
And this is where another truth becomes very clear to me.
A child is a child — no matter where they are from.
It does not matter if the child belongs to my country or another country, to my religion or another religion, to my tribe or another tribe. Whether the child is from the East or the West, whether the child is from a rich nation or a poor one.
A child is still a child.
A woman is still a woman.
An elderly person is still someone’s parent or grandparent.
Even the daughter of an enemy is still someone’s daughter, just like our own daughters.
Human pain does not recognize borders, religions, or nationalities. When innocent people suffer, humanity itself suffers.
I am just an ordinary person watching these events from far away. I cannot change world politics. But I believe something very simple.
Before every war, before every decision made by powerful leaders, there should be one question asked loudly and honestly:
What is the fault of women, elderly people, and children?