A couple of days back, our Social Studies class watched the movie, Shake Hands with the Devil. The movie is based on the autobiography of General Romeo Dallaire during the Rwandan Genocide. I have watched the movie before but I still felt the same flood of emotions when I watched it again. The story that is told through that movie is powerful, intense and last but not least eye-opening. I watched every single moment of that film and it still bothers me that Event happened only 16 years ago. I would've thought things like that happened only in the days of yore and is buried in the depths of the seas. But no, I was mistaken. Genocide is a reality that we as human beings cannot ignore.
(Rt. Hon. Romeo Dallaire)
It's like that warning adults give students about bullying. You are as much part of the bullying by being a bystander and stupid enough not to inform anyone about it. The same goes for these atrocious acts committed by ethnic-cleansing zealots. Rwanda is a prime example of this "Let's stick our heads in the sand and let it blow over" attitude that developed nations have when there are crisis that will not benefit them in the long run. I mean how inhumane is that. The only time governments will act, are in times when the balance of power favors them. Look what UNAMIR did, they ordered Gen. Dallaire to stand down when all him around people are being massacred, killed senselessly with the full knowledge of top UN officials. We are not going to solve the world's problems when the first question out of a bureaucrat's mouth is "How much is it going to cost?".
Think about it. If we take money out of the equation will we see the true potential of humanity? I don't know but it's worth trying. I mean if a man can kill millions with just a few words then maybe one man can turn the tide against poverty, AIDS, malaria, genocides and drugs. It's like that one doctor, the one who discovered the vaccine for polio, Dr. Salk. Instead of selling the vaccine to a major pharmaceutical company, he gave it to the public. So that millions of people will benefit from the fruits of labor and not just a bunch of rich, elitist but everyone even the elitist themselves. I know probably you're wondering how this correlates with anything. But when you think about it we can achieve the MDGs, if we had that kind of spirit and attitude. A spirit that puts the good of the many first and attitude that is optimistic for a better tomorrow.
( Dr. Jonas Salk, a kind of man everyone should strive for)
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