Genocide

I have to make a couple of telephone calls that I expect will be unpleasant so I am taking some time to consider the best approach to them. I have to let someone know that they have made a very serious mistake without making them feel like a complete fool and I am not sure that there is a way around it. So here I am pumping out a new post just because it is a way to procrastinate.

Genocide is an emotionally charged term that is thrown around by many people for different reasons. Some times it is used as part of a propaganda effort to try and affect political change and sometimes it is used appropriately to describe some of the most horrific events in human history.

When I was in college I became friendly with an Armenian girl. We played around with the idea of dating because we both had a history that knew tragedy. It was a morbid joke that we occasionally shared.

I remember talking with her over coffee about the situation in Bosnia and Kosovo as it related to our own respective histories. I remember talking to her later about the situation in Rwanda and covering other historical events too.

And I remember thinking that it doesn't look like we will ever outgrow our penchant for barbarism against each other. My mind hasn't changed, I still don't think that this will ever change. It will always be out there, there will always be people who are far too willing to hurt or murder others.

This is why it is important that we remember to stand up and be counted among those who oppose this brutality. The world will need reminders that we cannot sit back idly. And the world needs reminders as to what is real genocide and what is hype so that we do not succumb to "chicken little" politicking and impinge upon potential responses to cries for help.