Thursday, October 28, 2004

wanting to help, but not knowing where to start..

why do we do the things we do, but more importantly, why do we not do the things we don't do? i just got out of my poli sci class and am not depressed but more angry. i knew going in what i would come out feeling but somehow the actual feeling is so much more powerful that thinking about it. we watched a documentary on the genocide in rwanda. and everytime i read or watch something about it i am more baffled everytime. WHY THE HELL DID WE NOT DO ANYTHING? and by saying we i mean many different things... we being the u.s., we being the u.n., we being the fing world! i am a person and people across the world were massacred by others because they were viewed as different... 800,000 lives in 100 days is unimagineable. i am so fortunate to know that if 1% of that were killed in my country there would be strong repercussions, these people begged journalists, un peace keepers and anyone foreign for any sort of help and what did we do? pulled all but 10% of peace keeping troops out and gave the remaining 10% no support. with great power comes great responsibility, LEARN. i am just so frustrated that there are people out there who need help and since we are flooded with us media that tells us who jlo is dating instead of what actually is going on in the world. after going to argentina i learned that there is more to the world than what media in the us portray.
i remember the first time i learned of the rwandan genocide, it's what made me change my major to international studies with an emphasis in political science. i wanted to change the world. and i still do, but i just feel like it is that much more impossible a couple years later. i was given a book to read the day i watched that documentary about injustice in the world and a great organization called the international justice mission... but still, i am here in my bubble thinking that one day i will change the world when it is mine to change now, i just don't know where to start and will it really matter in the end? there is this amazing ad in rolling stone that says "be the butterfly" and below it it says that a butterfly's wings can change the wind thousands of miles away.. kind of like the ripple effect. i don't know, maybe i am wasting my time wanting to change a world that is obviously selfish...
in the end i am grateful for one thing, my life. i am glad that i am blessed to be me and be passionate as opposed to my apatheic peers who feel a check can cure all. though i am probably not going to be the richest person in the end, i hope i will be able to say that i did make that change.
and for those of you reading who know nothing about the rwandan genocide, i urge you to read about it and just read period...