“Friends”

So, this is a picture of a rather strange street mural I passed while moving into rebel held territory with an armored unit.

My guide, a Loyalist tanker, said that he thought it represented the power of friendship to endure in really shitty situations like war.

“Look,” he said, “It’s the girl on the right pulling her friend out of her combat-mentality back into the sweet, dreamy world of childhood! It’s about demobilization.”

That explanation would probably wash with me if the friend weren’t carrying what appears to be a combat rucksack, complete with ammunition pouches. Also, I’ve yet to hear about any Agrarian child soldiers ever being “demobilized.” Who would do it? Who would be there to take them in? Most of us shudder at having children with guns patrol the streets, but I think we fear the thought of a world where we don’t rely on God’s earthly creations to do our dirty work more.

My theory, which garnered some chuckles and tepid agreement from a munitions officer in the tanker group: the man in the background is an unarmed Rebel civilian; dreamy girl is stopping the other one from using him as target practice because she doesn’t want to make more paperwork for her superiors.