The Year of the Poet X December 2023

ForewordChildren: Difference MakersMelati and Isabel Wijsen As I write down these words, children are being killed by war mongers in several parts of the world yet once again. The lives of our most precious are being cut abruptly and violently yet once again, only to count as numbers of "fatalities"-if at all. It is a no-brainer to imagine that some of those children could have become notable enough to be honored for their groundbreaking inventions, discoveries or services to humanity at large, had they been allowed to live the natural course of their times on Earth. Not unlike the focus of the issue in your hands-Melati and Isabel Wijsen. For the entire year of 2023, our monthly book's Poetry Posse and all featured poets had their eyes on children who made a difference on and to our planet. While calling attention to the humanitarian services of Melati Wijsen and Isabel Wijsen in 2023's final month, I cannot help but view the bigger picture: What if these Indonesian sisters, 10- and 12-years old respectively when they attained the consciousness to raise a much-needed awareness among their fellow humans, were born into one of our modern-day war-torn countries? What if one of the siblings or both then became "a casualty" in that world region? Two remarkably influential children, who made a difference of consequence in and for our earthly plane, would have been dismissed, or better yet, discarded at the same speed and with the same indifference as all the children killed in wars in so-called modern times. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recently reported its ongoing data, stating that one out of every five children worldwide live within armed conflict zones. A total of 2,985 children were killed across 24 countries in 2022, 2,515 in 2021, 2,674 in 2020 across 22 countries, and 4,019 children in 2019-according to the last three Annual Reports of the UN Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict. How many of those who are anon counted among the dead could have or would have become significant contributors to our humanity's needs and for its development? So, as we through our poems celebrate the achievements of two sisters from Bali, I am reminded of the horrendous realities of all the children who presently are bound to those world zones where there is an armed conflict. We can only hope, as I desperately want to, that children in the likes of the Bali-natives Melati and Isabel Wijsen from Indonesia would one day survive the mindset of warmongering before it is birthed. hülya n. yılmaz, Ph.D. Penn State Professor Emerita, Liberal ArtsDirector of Editing Services, Inner Child Press International