Pegasus

The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do - Albert Einstein.

On a stone wall at the memorial of the Dachau concentration,a promise is written in five languages: "Never Again".6 million Jews were being systematically slaughtered in the name of ethnic cleansing while world leaders,citizens looked away!! I often wonder, how possibly could this be allowed to happen.But recently it has dawned on me that the answer is simple.Just as we are allowing.

Conflict and humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo have taken the lives of 5.4 million people since 1998 and continue to leave as many as 45,000 dead every month .The genocide in Darfur has claimed 400,000 lives and displaced over 2,500,000 people. More than one hundred people continue to die each day; five thousand die every month.In 1994, Rwanda experienced genocide unparalleled in modern history. In less than 100 days, approximately 800,000 men, women and children were brutally murdered. Within four months, an estimated 1.75 million people, or a quarter of the country's pre-war population, had fled.Since 1991, 350,000-1,000,000 Somalis have died because of the conflict.Had Had these killings occurred in Europe,we would be seeing third world war but,the world chooses to focus on wars and countries where America and European countries have interest like Afghanistan,Iraq,Iran,Saudi Arabia.

Violence is not the only ugly face of life poor Africans have to endure ,abject poverty,malnutrition,communicable diseases,AIDS,religious intolerance,illiteracy,unavailability of drinking water etc has also been a part of their life.According to the world bank report every year six million children die from malnutrition before their fifth birthday.More than 800 million people in Africa people go to bed hungry everyday,of which 300 million are children.There are an estimated 8000 girl-slaves in West Africa alone.Rape has become a signature of the militias; women are preyed on every day: as they collect water, or go out to see the morning- literally any time at any place. These young women who are raped are often ostracized by their families and communities for something they had no say in, and many are forced to bear the children of the monsters that did that to them.

Unless we take some concrete steps to help these people these atrocities are not going to stop on their own.As we wonder today about holocaust, future generations will try to fathom the urgency of work which engaged us so immensely that we choose to let our brothers die and sisters raped !!

Labels: Africa, genocide, poverty

In the stone age , persons with disabilities were banished from the group as realities of time demanded that everyone in the group contributed to the group. Then even as we became more civilized the practice continued in civilizations like Greece, Italy etc.These despicable acts could be remotely justified on the arguments of survival,so those who are not able to contribute could not possibly be part of tribe. Even in recent history as late as 18th ,19th century disabled people continued to face discriminations. Some believe discriminations had its roots in the belief that disability is god'curse,or disability is communicable ( in India probably even after the discovery of theory of germs), or various such reasons. Their fear could also be justified as they were scientifically ignorant. But when it comes to us here at a time when man is most rich,intelligent than it had ever been in the pas,t I find it hard to think of a single reason that we are not able to provide these disabled brothers of ours with their rights.Education is still eluding them,those who have proper qualifications find it hard to find a job which rightly awards his talent and degree, in villages social stigmas are prevalent , girls find it harder as in addition to economic abuse ,they are prone to sexual abuse as well. Arguments about prioritizing education,jobs etc of not disabled person may not be out in the open,but this is what is happening. How many schools,buildings etc we find in our locality which have proper,leave proper even basic facilities for disabled like ramps,special teachers in schools ? Now arguments of economic constraints would be propounded by some these facts would be helpful.

Hey,
I know that I was to post on economic crisis ,but recently I met a man after which I feel compelled to write about him, so bear with me while I tell you about him .
As a kid or while growing up everyone has a childhood hero or some inspiration, so that whenever you think of him, you pray earnestly to God that as an adult you also have some qualities or success of him, but I dont remember having any such child hero, But recently I came in acquaintance with a man , and now I certainly have an inspiration and I also pray earnestly to GOD that when I die I have some qualities of him.
The man I am talking about is Randy Pausch.Now those of you who know about him must be puzzled that how could I meet him when he is not in this world anymore. I actually did not meet him in person but saw his video, and I feel so strongly connected to him, few persons have left such indelible print on my mind as him , so I feel meet would be a better word.
And for those you who dont know about Randy Pausch ; Randy Pausch was a professor of Computer Science at CMU , and he died of pancreatic cancer on July 2008. He gave a lecture at CMU to 400 students which is the best lecture I have ever heard. That lecture was a part of lecture series which used to be called "The Last Lecture"."If you had one last lecture before you died , what would it be ?" In that lecture he showed how to stare right into the eyes of The Grim Reaper and make fun of him. He taught no matter where, what and who you are , you can bring changes to somebody's life, how to live life .And the best part was that he did not tell these thing in age old boring manner but as he termed it he head faked it !!
I can write on and on about him but to fully appreciate it you must first watch the video .

Bye!!

Hi,