Last night Tonia and I had the opportunity to enjoy dinner and a movie without the presence of a toddler. We kicked it off with a booth at Sal’s where neither of us actually had more than four bites of our meal, still full from the afternoon lunch with the family. Leftovers are great. From there we journeyed home and got a few things done around the house before settling in to watch a movie. Usually picking a movie is an arduous process of elimination, but last night I remembered a movie I received for Christmas two years ago that neither of us have watched—The Pianist.
Going into the movie, we really didn’t know what we were going to get. All we knew was it was a wartime movie and it probably involved a piano at some point. Turns out it’s story that revolves around a family during the Nazi invasion and systematic elimination of the Jewish race in Poland. About 30 minutes into it we had to ask each other if we wanted to continue to watch or switch to a more “date-friendly” movie, such as The Goonies. Both of us agreed that the story was compelling and that we were invested in it now. I won’t tell you anymore about the movie except that I kept thinking how black a mark this period in time is on our existence on earth. Not just the Nazi’s, but also all of the people around the world, knowing this is going on and doing nothing about it. That point hit me the hardest during one part in the movie where some of the Jews had the opportunity to see the other side of the wall. Once over there, it was an entirely different world. People happy and thriving, seemingly oblivious to the pain and death just over the wall. Shame on them I thought.
Shame on us is what I think now. We have the exact same thing going on right now in Darfur.
For three years, marauding Janjaweed militia groups have driven Darfur villagers from their homes, stolen their cattle, destroyed wells and burnt buildings. Today, violence against children and their families continues to grow and villagers are flooding into temporary refugee camps across the region at a growing rate.An estimated 3.4 million people—equivalent to almost 51 percent of the total population in the region—have been affected by the crisis in Darfur. At least 1.3 million children are living in 200 refugee camps as a result.
How can we sit around and pretend like this isn’t going on? Why do we hear about Major League Baseball players flying into a building for a week straight, but never hear about this crisis in Darfur? What can we do to make a difference? I have no idea what the answers are but, as I read today, “Indifference is not an option.”
The next time you find yourself caught up in meaningless agruments, feel slighted by somebody, or even feel like life is all peaches and cream, take some time and rent The Pianist, Schindler’s List or click on one of the following links:
www.unicefusa.org »
www.ushmm.org »
www.genocideintervention.net »
www.savedarfur.org »
www.darfurgenocide.org »
www.google.com/darfur »
Filed under: Africa, Darfur, Genocide, The Pianist
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