Take a stand

“Thou shalt not stand idly by the blood of thy neighbor.” This is saying in the
Hebrew bible, from the very people that were punished as the world stood idly by. As 11
Million Jewish and other people we slaughtered by hate and ignorance. No words would be adequate to describe the horror’s in which the survivors and the dead experienced, however could it be possible to make one understand, understand the reason for the suffering and death, and take action to prevent it? Unfortunately it seems that no one has really understood yet, for not but 60 years later we stood idly by as the Serbs and the Muslims tore themselves up as 100,000 people were murdered in plain view as the rest of the world, and the world turned there backs. That was not the last however soon we watched from the couch of our homes the Hutu and the Tootsie tore themselves up and there neighbors in Rwanda, and as the blood was drawn in Sudan, and now in front of our very eyes children’s are starving to death, women are being raped, men are being hacked to death, and yet the world still turns a blind eye to what’s happening in Darfur. For the survivors of these atrocities they remain witness to the true evil of man. Not to listen and to tell there stories would be akin to killing them a second time. It is their responsibility to pass their knowledge of the past on so that their children will not have to live their past. Yet still no one will listen to understand the screams of families being broken apart, the tears as men were forced to dig their own mass graves, the terror of the woman being raped, no one will listen, no one will remember the pain of these people when there is no one left to tell their story, and this will show us that objects in the mirror really are closer than they appear, as their past becomes our future again, simply because we didn’t listen. If we wish to avoid this terror than let us learn from the countless that have suffered under the blind eyes of ourselves, and the hate that our ignorance has created. It is our duty to carry one their stories of images that could not be described in a thousand words to make the reader understand, and not empathize. For every name of a person killed there is a face, a story, a life with friends and family, a contribution to this world that was abruptly ended in attempt to silence a voice. Unfortunately to us every name is just a name, what if that name was your mother, brother, sister, or cousin, would we then realize what that voice could have contributed? Will we let this voice be silenced forever, to hold its peace and horrors inside themselves? Or will we stand up and give the voice a voice, so it can spread. I am not stupid enough to think that this paragraph will change the world, but I am hopeful that it will be one in the coming many. As the many can change the world, and can stop us from repeating the past. We are gifted with the tools to succeed in the world like education, we must not forget those who are less fortunate, those who are starving and dieing, those who’s families are torn apart, those who need our help the most. For it is these people who will become either the victims or the perpetrators if such atrocities were to come back. We need not forget those who need the help the most, and only by helping those will we extinguish the evil of mans ignorance and hate. It is us who need to push for reform, because we are the government, and we have the power, but not the will. We need to hear those voices crying for help and answer them not in words, but in actions. We need to show the world what is happening there. Unfortunately I found out about most of these not through where I should have in school or on the news, but on tv shows like Oprah and ER. That is not right, and it needs to change, and I hope that my children will not live in the shade of ignorance, but be apart of the generation that took action.