Invisible Children

Today the non-profit organization Invisible Children came to speak at our school. It was started by three young guys who went to Uganda because they liked making movies and wanted to see what they could find there. They ended up meeting adorable young children who had been forced to become child soldiers, and these men decided that action needed to be taken to help the soldiers. They made a wonderfully moving and heartfelt documentary that they brought back to America. Since this movie was made, they have started their organization and have raised a bunch of money to rehabilitate the schools in Uganda and thus, the children and society as well. Two native Ugandan women came to tell us their stories as well. This was the best done assembly I have been to in all thirteen years of my education. The stories were moving and personal, and they weren't trying to make up support their cause, but simply show us that one voice CAN make a difference, and whatever it is, we need to be passionate about something. Sitting in the auditorium, watching these guys, not much older than I am, being a part of historical peace movements, I have never felt more insignificant. What have I done? I complain about the school work I have when kids much younger than me are taken from their homes and forced to kill. And other children are dying. Or being forced to sell themselves to support families. This isn't just a Ugandan problem. So many children living in 2nd and 3rd world countries would give anything to be able to go to school. Or just to sleep in their own beds. Even some children in 1st world countries face these problems. During that assembly all I wanted to do was run out of the school, jump in my car, go to the airport and take off to some desperate country and make a difference. I had been thinking about taking a year off before college to travel europe, or roadtrip across america; but that time and money could be spent in a much better way. I feel like the most spoiled person in the world when my biggest problem is that all my cute clothes are dirty. Or I have "no" money. When we study events in History like the Holocaust, or the Rwandan genocide, we often say immediately "Why didn't someone stop them?!" the answer is because they are exactly like us. They saw pictures or heard reports, felt sad for a moment, and then went about their lives. It is smply human nature to assume that someone else will do it. Someone else will call the police, or breakup the fight or whatever it is. But someone has to be that someone else. I'm not saying I'm going to take a year off and fix the whole world. We all know thats not going to happen. And saving one child soldier, out of thousands, maybe didn't seem like it was that significant. But, after meeting Grace, who had to raise her sister's three children, and her own daughter, and her sick mother, in a war ridden country, and seeing that this organization was able to send her back to school and she will be going to college when she gets back from this tour, really opened my eyes to how significant it really is to save one person. Without the help of Invisible Children, Grace most likely would never have been able to afford schooling. Now Grace is going to study to be a teacher, to teach children how important it is to be passionate and active about something. This post is kind of rambling, but I just couldn't stop feeling incredibly insignificant and spoiled when I saw the danger those three guys put themselves in to help out others. Everyone could learn a lesson from this organization and the movie they showed us today, The Rescue of Joseph Kony's Child Soldiers. Thinking is easy. Acting, is a completely different matter. And from this point forth I hope to keep these thoughts in the front of my brain, and start taking action for things I believe in.