I worked all day Friday and Saturday, which is why I didn't post. Earlier today I proctored a test, during which I prepared for school, and afterward I did laundry, planned some things for next week, talked to my mom, made food for the week, and watched Au Revoir Les Enfants.
The movie was powerful. Somehow this one affected me more than other films depicting the horrors of war. I felt anxiety and helplessness watching it, but then I realized that there are events like the Holocaust taking place right now, such as in Sudan. I've often thought, "how could all those Americans sit back during the Holocaust and not do anything?". I'm flabbergasted when I think about the apathy. Well, tonight after watching the film I realized that I'm one of those very people that flabbergast me. Even after I read What is the What, I still failed to recognize the reality of what's happening and my own lack of action.
Then I wondered what to do--where do I go from here? Make a donation? To begin with, I plan to write to my political representatives on all levels. Maybe I could talk my parents into adopting a refugee child? Maybe I could adopt a refugee child.
It's really shocking for me to meditate on the fact that events equal or greater in magnitude to the Holocaust are currently taking place. How can humanity continue to tolerate this? We all have a responsibility never to cease fighting for the principles of peace, justice, freedom, and understanding.
Sunday, August 03, 2008
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Two things: I am always amazed by people's focus on "The" Holocaust; or any major event like a school "massacre." (And people seem to think The Holocaust is the only holocaust, never thinking about Bosnia, Nanking, Darfur, Kampuchea.) People say, "well, how can we prevent this from happening?" and they never realize what is going on microscopically. It's similar psychology to people making the choice of a large purchase. It's ok to go buy coffee and lunch every day, but when you have to spend a few hundred dollars at once you become cautious. Yet, my coffee and lunch habit could easily be a few hundred a month. It is true that terrible things are going on all over the world, and perhaps the first question is which are the most critical? People in the slums of Shaolin or Germantown? North Koreans who are starving? Cambodian children who are sold by their parents into prostitution? Soviet satellite countries where it is likewise? There is so much shit going on in the world, and it is hard to justify what is most important. Genocide is arguably worse than sparse, unprovoked murder all over the world. You could also argue that a people suffering from starvation is similar to genocide. So those may be of the highest priority.
What can you do? There is already charitynavigator which is fantastic, but it doesn't have a feature that I know of which directs your money. I've wanted to develop such a website since all of those Christian bullshit commercials all provide a caveat of donation which is that the money can be used how they like. You can do something, save a soul or two, but this shit is still going to happen in the future.
I disagree that "we all have a responsibility never to cease fighting for principles of peace, justice, freedom, and understanding." No one has to do anything, and it's being proven right now. This includes our senators and representatives. The American democratic system is antiquated and eventually we'll need to revise it so that the politicians are our puppets and not the other way around. Right now a letter to a rep won't do any good although people think it helps. You get a response like, "Representative Doyle thanks you for your concern about Darfur. We are working in congress to try to get our shit waxed more quickly and efficiently so we can focus on this issue. Thank You. Jennifer Sirrah, Congressional Assistant." Until the reformation of the political system (if it ever happens) we must rely on private citizens with a strong conscience and power (read: money). If you think donating to an organization is a way of masquerading a bunch of poor citizens as one powerful citizen, by all means go for it, but there are a lot of organizations that are terribly inefficient as I mentioned.
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