the_load_out wrote in humanmajority

15 minutes from now, when you're getting into bed, 4 more African people will be dead.

Tomorrow is Holocaust Remembrance Day. Remember the over 6 million Jews whose lives were so horridly snatched during this devestating time in history. Stop and think of how horrible this tragedy was, and how hopeful we are that it will never happen again, but remember that this is happening in places around the world like Sudan, (Rwanda in 1994), south Sudan the last two+ decades... and remember that we can do something about this if we really want it. If you don't want it enough, you probably won't get it. It's unfortunate to read and hear about exactly what is going on in Sudan these days, and it pains me to think that over the past 20 years in Sudan, 1/3rd of the amount of Jews killed in the Holocaust have been killed in this one country in Africa, alone. The world totally forgot about the Jews before World War II. Hitler sent a boat of Jews around the world on a couple of occasions and told his friends: Watch, this boat will come back right where it left and nobody will have helped the Jews. He used this as part of his justification to exterminate the Jews in his extreme "nationalistic" views for Germany. The point he was trying to make by sending that boat of Jews around the world is this: Nobody cares about the Jews. And therefore, it's unanimous that they should be exterminated.

As you know, Britain and France did not want to deal with Germany at all after World War I. They basically ignored Hitler and saw him as a joke, a radical that would soon die off. The United States wanted to stay out of war in any way possible after World War I as well, and I would feel very hypocritical to blame a group of people for wanting to avoid war at any cost, being the anti-war advocate that I am, but during this time, Hitler's army was growing bigger and bigger. Every day he was recruiting more and more to his Nazi party. The world turned a "cold shoulder" on the innocent Jews, Poles and peoples of other "non-Aryan" races. It wasn't until the bombing of Pearl Harbor that the United States showed an interest in putting the German regime to an end. That is the scariest part of it all, though. Hitler could have been stopped had America, Britain and France shown more of an interest to do so earlier. He could have been brought down! But nobody seemed to care to stop him because he was not directly affecting the major economies and interests of the world. This relates exactly to the genocide occurring in Sudan as we sit here and type on our computers. You all are aware of what happened in Rwanda, hundreds of thousands of lives were lost in 1994 alone due to mass genocide. But did the rest of the world help? Did the rest of the world really even care? They said "never again" will this happen. Boy were they wrong.

It's time for people to stop being so uncaring and to stop thinking "this doesn't affect me in any way" because IT DOES. Everything happens for a reason, and you might say Africa doesn't affect you immediately, but somewhere down the line you will realize just how much help they needed when the number of deaths rise into even higher millions. It is estimated that a person in Sudan dies every 5 minutes from the Civil War alone. If that is not enough, a person dies every 15 minutes from AIDS. Every 15 minutes, 4 people die from AIDS and the Civil War. Every 15 minutes. Think, 15 minutes from now, when you're getting into bed or going to brush your teeth, 4 more people will be dead.

People must understand that the people in Africa have hopes, feelings, desires, determination, love, and most importantly, lives too. Just because the situation over there is as bad as it is does not mean that they cannot be helped. They can be helped. It takes a small start to change the lives of others, and we can do it if we really want to. It's hard to say we can stop the genocide going on over there, but like the occasional bleeding hearts during the Holocaust who sent aid and helped rescue some, we can provide money to help people who are volunteering over in Sudan help the people who need help the most. The world's problems do not only lie in Africa, I understand, but Africa has one of the worst overall problems out of any place in the world today. It's a start. It's a good start. You can help them, little or big. Little here is big over there. $17 here, what you would pay for a CD can pay for 2 good meals for over 200 families over there.

It's hard to face up to the reality of the harsh and sad events that go on in the world today, but we must. They rely on us believe it or not. We are humans. Humans are inclined to helping others, because you know that if you were in this situation you would want people to help you out, wouldn't you? We must help them in any way we can. If Holocaust Remembrance Day means anything at all, it means that we must let people know that this should not have ever happened again, on any scale, in any form, in any way. So remember, I pledge to donate a dollar every day until the 20th to a school donation fund I have begun at my school, along with $60 I am getting back in tax returns from the government. When I start my job, I will be giving paychecks to Doctors Without Borders so they can help people out in need in Africa. I encourage each and every one of you to donate something too. It doesn't have to be $60. It can be any amount you can donate. Remember, a little here goes a long way there. Remember those who have died, and let's remember those who are going through it still. "In whatever form you observe Yom Hashoah [Holocaust Remembrance Day,] the memory of the Jewish victims will live on."

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