More to Life

I do prefer to make my posts a little more light hearted than this, but this is important. I just saw the movie Hotel Rwanda. This movie is based on the true story of a hotel manager who saved over 1,000 Rwandans during the genocide that resulted in the murder of over 1 MILLION Rwandans only ten years ago. The movie was amazing, and I'd highly recommend seeing it. A true story of the struggle to survive and the mayhem and disgust of genocide...

I've learned a lot about the Holocaust. 6 MILLION Jews and 5 MILLION homosexuals, gyspies, and others killed in the German concentration camps only 60 years ago. Never again. We say. We've learned our lesson about genocide. Never again...

And yet, since the Holocaust it's happened again and again. (Numbers cited from Wikipedia)

• 3 Million Bangladeshis killed in the Bangladesh Liberation war of 1971.
• 1.7 Million Cambodians killed between 1975-1979.
• 2 Million Sudanese civilians killed since 1983, and the killing still continues today in the Darfur region of Sudan.
• 1 Million killed in Rwanda in 1994.

And of course, these are just numbers, failing to even begin to do justice to the true magnitude of such annihilations. Every person has a story. Think too, of all the families torn apart, or all the people who survived, but severely wounded.

After the Holocaust we said never again, and yet is has happened more than once. We have convinced ourselves that with the United Nations and all the human rights groups the situation is under control. The truth is much the opposite. When Rwanda needed help, Western governments pulled out their civilians and turned their back on the genocide.

Who's going to prevent these tragedies from happening again? Who's going to make them happen never again? Ultimately, we will. If we don't, no one will. We means each and everyone of us. In this interconnected, interdependent global village, our selective ignorance lets hate and killing thrive elsewhere. Education is our power. If the media won't report it, dig around, reach out to other outlets. Listen, learn, make your judgments. Act on them.

Rebuild Rwanda.

Learn about & stop today's genocide in Sudan.

If you don't, who will?