Who Will Speak for You?

For St. Paddy’s Day I had the pleasure of a traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner with some friends. The couple whose house these festivities were at had recently changed jobs and the lady of the house, we will call her the Queen of Karaoke (QK for short, her boyfriend is Blondie from previous posts) in honor of her boyfriend’s gift to her of a Karaoke machine that hooks into their TV, had recently begun working for a non-profit group called Jewish World Watch. JWW is an organization that is currently advocating for the people of Darfur, Sudan, but the overall concept of the group is to make good on the idea that as human beings we must not allow another Holocaust no matter what name is used to make it more socially palatable. Mass killing, violation of human rights, blocking of aid and relief efforts should bring outrage and uproar to those living with the blessings of freedom.

Currently, JWW is promoting a Passover Advocacy Project. At QK’s house she had 3x5 cards that had been filled out by school children of a variety of ages. Reading those notes was both heart wrenching and hilarious. Heart wrenching, because it's difficult to imagine children with food, housing, peace, and freedom in their home life having to advocate for children who have nothing and hilarious because a first grader is taking our President to task for not living up to his words, “Not on my watch”.

Thinking about the everyday struggles in Darfur make me want a better world for the future and for the children growing up there. I have decided to make their Advocacy Project a part of my Passover Seder this year. Passover is my favorite Jewish Holiday and it will have a special meaning this year as we sit down to tell the story of how Moses brought freedom to the Jews under Egypt’s Pharoah’s rule and we write letters to our representatives in Washington to bring attention to the suffering of men, women, and children in Darfur. Turning a blind eye to the rape, terror, and murder of an entire people is not the legacy I want for this great nation.

You can help stop the atrocities in Darfur from the comfort of your computer, simply go to this website and send an e-mail (conveniently provided here) to President Bush asking him to live up to his words and help the Sudanese people stop the violence and bring much needed aid to the area.

I leave you with this poem attributed to Pastor Martin Niemoller (a controversial figure for his support of Hitler prior to his persecution by the Third Reich) about how German intellectuals responded to the Nazi rise in power:

First they came…

When they came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews.
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.