Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Change

I picked this book up at the library today and once I started it I couldn't stop until it was finished. I was excited to read it because I loved Kite Runner. Both books made me cry but most of all they made me think. In the movie, Hotel Rowanda when the man asks the American journalist why the people of America aren't stopping the killing going on the journalist responds that they watch it on the evening news and say how sad and then go back to eating their dinner. There are so many horrible things going on in Countries around us and what have I done to help? I haven't done a single thing. People live through war and for what? To have unclean drinking water, incurable diseases, and nightmares to last their lifetime. A few years ago I worked with the sweetest boy ever. He was from Sudan and some men had broken into his house, killed his parents, raped his sister and cut off his arm. You never saw him without a smile on his face. We lived next to some Iraq refugees and when we moved they cried to me and told me they loved me in their broken English. Of the few English words they knew they would tell Tatiana they loved her and shower her with food and kisses. They gave us Christmas present when they don't even celebrate Christmas. Their kindness floored me.
My point is we don't think something is real until it is in our face. We politely ignore the horrors of others when the only thing that separates us is birth. What if we had been born in their place?
Would we have survived? If you want to do something here it is....donate to the UNrefugees. 10 dollars might mean skipping that weekend restaurant for you and five meals for a little child.
The website is www.UNrefugees.org
Don't go back to eating your dinner...change something for the better

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