Back in 1988, the Burmese military junta massacred 3,000 demonstraters. Since then, they have nullifed a landslide victory that elected Aung San Suu Kyi to the head of a demoncratic gov\'t and have continued to jail/kill activists. Burma is ranked 164 out of 168 countries in the Reporters without Borders ranking of freedom of press.
Back in 1988, Burma was not in the world\'s eye. We didn\'t have the internet and global communication of today see into that troubled nation. The government was not under as much scrutiny, and they got away with it.
This is a different time. Now, the Monks\' Resistance in Burma is getting coverage from NYT, MSNBC, and Time Magazine. Now is the time to tell the military junta that the world is watching and will not tolerate such repression. NOW IS THE TIME TO ACT.
Click on the links below and sign online petitions to pressure international leaders to take action about the situation in Burma (it’s fast and easy).
Online Petition to President Bush- Amnesty International
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/c.jhKPIXPCIoE/b.2590179/k.C43E/Take_Action_Online/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&aid=9315
Online Petition to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon- US Campaign for Burma
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/uscampaignforburma/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=5521
Online Petition to Chinese President Hu Jintao- US Campaign for Burma
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/uscampaignforburma/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=730&t=HomePage.dwt
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Saturday, September 1, 2007
When It Rains on the World...
The world is not about us.
The world is not about how awesome we will be as doctors, not about how many Nobel prizes we will win, not about when we will be chief of surgery.
The world is not about how we need a new dress for the next party, not about how we need new shoes to go with that new dress, not about how baller our cars are.
The world is not about how we need our nails done or we won't feel confident, not about how many uninspiring activities we can rack up on our resume, not about how we can best manipulate the system or other people.
The world is not about getting the biggest house and two cars for our family, not about making sure our kids are smarter than everyone else's, not about living the unsustainable American dream.
The world is not about us, because we don't need help.
The world is about them.
The world is about children who never live past 5 years old, about how they can never dream of going to school, about how they will never have a chance to win that Nobel prize because their potential cannot be realized without education.
The world is about poor people who wear one dress all their lives, about how they can never take a proper shower because they can never take off that one dress and wash it, about how they die because hospitals are too far to walk to.
The world is about how they can benefit so much from the same amount of money we spend on a can of coke, about how they don't eat so their kids can go to school, about how they will never live the unsustainable American dream.
The world is about them, because they are the world, and the world needs help.
We all do it - we all have ambitions, we all need when we merely want, we all pretend, we all search for the best for ourselves and people *we* love.
And where are we heading with that mentality?
In a few years, some of us will drown because there is simply not enough land to stand on. Even the richest cannot escape from poverty, because rich people do die from HIV, the virus that jumps over to humans because people are too poor to eat real meat, so they eat infected chimps instead.
When it rains on the world, it rains on all of us equally, without discrimination.
So if we don't help them, we're not helping the world, and we're not helping ourselves.
Feel free to disagree or argue, but I hope you will consider the possibility that this might be true.
The world is not about how awesome we will be as doctors, not about how many Nobel prizes we will win, not about when we will be chief of surgery.
The world is not about how we need a new dress for the next party, not about how we need new shoes to go with that new dress, not about how baller our cars are.
The world is not about how we need our nails done or we won't feel confident, not about how many uninspiring activities we can rack up on our resume, not about how we can best manipulate the system or other people.
The world is not about getting the biggest house and two cars for our family, not about making sure our kids are smarter than everyone else's, not about living the unsustainable American dream.
The world is not about us, because we don't need help.
The world is about them.
The world is about children who never live past 5 years old, about how they can never dream of going to school, about how they will never have a chance to win that Nobel prize because their potential cannot be realized without education.
The world is about poor people who wear one dress all their lives, about how they can never take a proper shower because they can never take off that one dress and wash it, about how they die because hospitals are too far to walk to.
The world is about how they can benefit so much from the same amount of money we spend on a can of coke, about how they don't eat so their kids can go to school, about how they will never live the unsustainable American dream.
The world is about them, because they are the world, and the world needs help.
We all do it - we all have ambitions, we all need when we merely want, we all pretend, we all search for the best for ourselves and people *we* love.
And where are we heading with that mentality?
In a few years, some of us will drown because there is simply not enough land to stand on. Even the richest cannot escape from poverty, because rich people do die from HIV, the virus that jumps over to humans because people are too poor to eat real meat, so they eat infected chimps instead.
When it rains on the world, it rains on all of us equally, without discrimination.
So if we don't help them, we're not helping the world, and we're not helping ourselves.
Feel free to disagree or argue, but I hope you will consider the possibility that this might be true.
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