Genocide

- Written by Anonymous Writer

Man's inhumanity to man is epic. This planet has a dark and bloody history strewn with the countless victims of greed, intolerance, genocide, war and atrocity. Man is accountable for it all.

But who is this entity called Man? Is it you? Is it me?

Detached we study history or the news, perhaps horrified by what man has done or is doing. We examine ourselves in contrast to what we have observed and we don't find a monster lurking under our own social veneer.

Perhaps, in ourselves, we see a person capable of boundless compassion and love, perhaps one finds an individual of vast wisdom and patience, maybe it is someone with huge determination and magnificent purpose or it could be that one finds simply a guy or a girl who is trying to get along in life as best they can.

Certainly there are those who consider themselves to be bad because of things they have done. But is there anyone who can truly look into the depths of their soul and find an evil being? No, such a person does not exist.

Yet the facts of our history tell a shockingly different tale. Let us take a look at genocide as an example, just recent history, say the past hundred years.

• 1902 to 1913 Philippines, over 1 million people killed.


• 1904 to 1907 German South-West Af (Namibia) 75 thousand people killed.


• 1919 to 1922 Russia, (Don Cossacks) over 300 thousand killed.


• 1915 to 1923 Turkey, 2.5 million people were killed.


• 1932 to 1933 Ukraine, 8 million people were killed in man-made famine.


• 1937 to 1938 Nan king, 300 thousand people killed.


• 1938 to 1945 Nazis killed over 6 million people.


• 1941 to 1944 Croatia, over 400 thousand people killed.


• 1947 (Partition of India) over 500 thousand people killed.


• 1968 to 1996 Guatemala over 200 thousand people killed.


• 1971 East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) over 1.5 million people killed.


• 1972 Burundi, Africa, over 210 thousand Hutus killed by Tutsis.


• 1975 to 1979 Pol Pot, in Cambodia, 2 million people killed.


• 1928 to 1987 PRC (China) over 76 million people killed.


• 1993 Burundi, Africa, 400 thousand Tutsis killed by Hutus


• 1994 in Rwanda, Africa, 800 thousand killed over a period of 100 days.


• 1992 to 1995 Bosnia-Herzegovina, 200 thousand people killed.


• 1982 to 2008 (today) Sudan (Including Darfu) over 2 million killed.


• 1996 to 2008 (today) Congo over 7 million killed (continues today)

This is by far an incomplete list, but in the 20th century alone there have been an estimated 262 million people killed in acts of genocide, though some would argue that it is politically incorrect to name all of these as genocide. Today genocide is known to continue in the Congo, Darfu, Sri Lanka and Somalia.

How callous is it to make a statistic of these deaths? Every one of these people are someone's daughter or son, father or mother, friend ... Each of them had thoughts, hopes and dreams, just like you and I do. 262 million lives will never express themselves or be heard from again.

Imagine the grief stricken loss at the discovery of a loved one or friend lost forever and then the spine tingling terror experienced by any one these people when the door to their home bursts open or they are stopped on the road and they too realize their time is over.

Detached we watch in horrified fascination and perhaps ask why "they" don't do something to stop it. Or maybe the question we ask is how "those people" could do something so evil. Yes, in learning of these events we are horrified, but at the same time could it be that we are in some way content? Content in that the madness has not come to our homes, to our lives or if it has, that we are still alive to speak of it?

Given all that we now know, if you had the chance to send a message back to some time before one of these atrocities occurred in the scant hope of somehow preventing it, who would you send it to? What would you say? And if by some miracle such a message did get through, would the recipient, whether a potential victim or even a potential perpetrator of the atrocity, believe it? Would you believe it if you received such a message from the future.

No, you probably would not. How could one possibly conceive that such evil could descend upon their lives, or indeed, that one could be capable oneself of bringing such evil down on others. It's inconceivable. Think about it for a moment. It just isn't real. But make no mistake, not a single person who has been involved one way or another, as victims or perpetrators, in acts which give mankind the dubious claim to the slogan "Man's inhumanity to man" has ever imagined such events taking place at some future time in their own lives.

Detached one is entertained, in this day and age, with movies or TV shows which tend to make life cheap. As long as the victim is portrayed as the bad guy his life means very little. While we all know that such things are make believe, it is an observable fact that popular movies are emulated in our society, particularly observable in our youth.

Have you or someone you know ever killed another human being? Think about the effect that act had, whether justified or accidental or not. If it was you , then you know what I am talking about. The cold emptiness that sets in as the realization of what you did comes home to you. Knowing that person will never again walk in the light of day, will never see what you see or feel what you feel. For that matter we all know the feeling of remorseful responsibility that sets in at the loss of someone close to you, that perhaps you could have done something, anything to have prevented it.

By what yardstick could one possibly measure the value of a single human life? After all it isn't a rare commodity, we all have one. Yet it is the single most precious thing we have, beyond any price or materialistic value. And there isn't any price we wouldn't pay to hold onto and continue that life.

Yet in the paradox that is the human condition we have all seen or heard about noble acts of self sacrifice in which one gives their life to continue the life or lives of others. In any culture such an act is regarded with ultimate respect and enormous admiration.

People like you and like me are having their lives taken away from them by these acts of inhumanity every day, right this very minute, as you read this. Yet the madness is not here in our lives, so we remain somewhat detached.

Somewhere in the world today there is someone who is breathing the very same air that we are breathing, when they look around they get the same images we would get, they hear as we do and want to survive as we do. As death approaches their breath quickens, their heart rate rises, clammy sweat films their palms and beads their brow. Unable to escape they fervently hope and pray for something, someone, anything to come, to help, to stop this madness%u2026 It never comes. And we sit detached.

Where does this detachment come from? Is it because we don't really know about or believe what is going on? Is it because we conceive that it is not our responsibility, that it has nothing to do with us? Or is it because, even if we wanted to do something and redeem mankind from the ignoble label of "Man's inhumanity to Man", that we have no idea of what we, as individuals, could possibly do that would actually be effective and would make a difference?

It is possible for any individual to make a difference, if they can recognize that a situation does exist and that there is a need for change. There are many ways that one could effectively help.

First, the atrocities being perpetuated on our planet today must be stopped. The UN has the power and potential resources to make that happen. Internal and international politics in the UN coupled with the bureaucracy found in such establishments tend to slow or stop the process. Meanwhile people are dying. Unbelievably, a simple letter from you to your UN representative could make all the difference in the world and literally save lives. Public opinion is a powerful and even unstoppable force. That is your power, use it.

Second, today's victims of modern atrocity need aid and succor. Organizations exist around the world whose activities do just that and whose members have dedicated their lives to this task. Support these groups in whatever way is possible within your lifestyle, be that financial donations, helping to disseminate their message, volunteer work, or even joining them. Any help is better than no help, it is appreciated and it can go a long way.

Third, preventative action must be taken to ensure that such atrocity is not perpetuated, both in areas still affected and also in areas that haven't been affected. Social reform and social betterment groups exist whose effective activities can and do make a change in society. Education, child care, criminal reform, drug rehabilitation, humanitarian awareness and human rights. These are the groups that give us the future of our society. Find them in your area and support them.

Finally, spread the word. Tell others about what is happening. Make them aware of what is going on and perhaps they too will recognize a need for change.

Down through the ages and around the world today, people of good will have shared a dream, a dream of freedom, equality and happiness. These people of whatever race, color or creed, whether they know it or not, are connected in a brotherhood. That brotherhood is humanity, and I am proud to have been a part of it.