UA mini carnival has taken place in front of the town hall in my district. It attracts all the children in the neighborhood, which does not displease me. With a bit of luck, a child deprived of a carousel will choose my shoulder to vent his frustration. As I sink into the small crowd, a foam ball hits my foot, pursued by three breathless little boys. They are 8 or 9 years old, and look like cartoon characters: a small redhead, a tall dark-haired and a curly light brown.
“Excuse me, madam, it wasn’t done on purpose! »
They are there for a friend’s birthday.
” We ate the Smarties cake earlier! And there, we play dodgeball. »
The question of the snack is therefore settled – Huey, Dewey and Louie do all the work for me. Next to us, I hear adults discussing the war in Ukraine. So I ask the little trio what the word “war” made them think of until now.
“ Ben, that people died, a little?
— Me, before, it made me think of a desert and there are hundreds of different countries that come to put arrows in the stomach, to strike each other with a sword…
– And today, it makes you think of something else?
– Yes, to sadness, fear, isolation. And the dead. »
They begin to discuss among themselves the Ukrainian situation:
” Actually, I don’t really know what it says…
– But siiii! We talked about it a little bit at school. There is war in Ukraine and there are people who leave to go to another place, for example to “Bugarest”. That way, if they have the means, well, they don’t have to stay and see the war.
— In fact, Ukraine has something, it is very strategic, because it already has the Black Sea, and in fact Vladimir Putin would like to have the Black Sea because it is strategic. Because often all the lakes in Russia freeze in the winter and even sometimes a little in the summer in the North, while the Black Sea practically never freezes and also because there is a lot of traffic to pass the military boats, goods…”
Pragmatism and feelings
Loulou is therefore a specialist in geopolitics. I ask them if they would like to talk about it more, at school for example. Opinions differ :
“No, but we don’t care about that. We have other things to do! Even if we think about it all the time in our head…
“I’d rather know what’s going on in the world than know nothing.”
“It really depends. If it’s positive, yes, but otherwise not too much. »
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