Is there a time for keeping your distance, A time to turn your eyes away...

[julylorelei]

Today, there was a screening on campus of a film called Forgotten Voices: Women in Bosnia. The woman who filmed the documentary is a mother of four from California who is also a standup comedian that has traveled into war zone areas with the USO for the last decade. After reading about the genocide in Darfur in the newspaper and crying, her teenage

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[almostwitty]

I was in Cambodia on holiday with a bunch of Chinese cousins. When the tour guide asked what we wanted to see, someone shouted out, with no shame whatsoever, "We want to see The Killing Fields!". Which is tantamount to shouting that you want to see Auschwitz. What, and pick up some spare specs from the souvenir stand?

The most terrible thing about being in Cambodia was when the tour guides would take you around an incredibly beautiful country, a tourist would ask what these holes were. The tour guide would reply that they were bullet holes from the Khmer Rouge regime, and you could tell he was being dragged back to his memories of those times. At one point, the tour guide just stopped, and dropped in silence.

But it's alas the only way the Cambodians have of reviving their economy.

[julylorelei]

There is no economy in Yugoslavia now. Milosevic wasn't even removed from power until 2000, and the country literally has no strong infrastructure anymore.

Before the war, Yugoslavia had the highest per capita amount of female PhDs in Europe. You can imagine the disruption only attending 2-3 days of school a week will do to that number.

[luscious_words]

We as a people are and will be judged by how we treat the least fortunate among us, as well as by how often we turn our eyes away from the plight of others and do nothing.

Not only do we do that with others around the world, we do it in our own backyard. The plight of people in need of protection and shelter in our own country combined with those in other countries boggles the mind. I can't imagine living like that and we should be grateful each day for what we have rather than taking it for granted. It's sad to know there are some things that haven't changed at all and that the parts of history that are repeating are the blights of war and famine.

[julylorelei]

With all the people who bitch and moan that we need to stop sending aid overseas when we have so many problems here on the home front, you'd think they'd be doing more about our domestic problems if they're that upset. It's more believable that they just want to complain and have no real solutions to offer.

[luscious_words]

I agree with you. I think they opt for mitching and boaning rather problem solving. The complaining requires less work and effort and they 'appear' to be doing good.