Hotel Rwanda

I went and listened to Paul Rusesabagina speak yesterday for the University Forum. He has an incredible story, and I was actually slightly surprised to hear that the movie, "Hotel Rwanda", was a very accurate depiction of the events. Not surprised expecting the movie to have portrayed it to be worse than it was, just surprised because movies tend to take liberties about real life.

At the end of his address he gave the strong admonition that if we want to see change in the world we need to stand up and make it happen. As I was listening I thought about the kinds of emotions he must have about his ordeal. He made it out alive and we herald him as a hero. But I would bet that part of him feels something along the lines of: "I didn't want to be a hero, I'm only a hero because no one in the entire world would help me. Not even this U.S. government which bestows awards upon me for what I did." He was abandoned by the world, and when he happened to make it out alive with a thousand people we call him a hero. I would bet he would much rather be a nobody and have several million more people be alive as a result of U.S. intervention.

I know (because I've heard people here in Utah say it in the past) that some of you are probably thinking, "Yah, Clinton really should have done something". But guess what? Your high and mighty Bush is just as culpable because the genocides have been occurring in Africa constantly over the last 20 years. Yet we spend billions of dollars a day sitting in Iraq and Afghanistan for no acceptable reason. Simply imagine the amount of lives that could have been spared had we sent our military to the troubled regions of Rwanda, Burundi, Darfur, Congo, etc. Places were people go to sleep wondering if they'll wake up in the morning. Iraq was actually a stable country where people went about their lives with food, water, electricity, and an expectation of safety--- We destroyed that stability. Millions have been killed by senseless violence in Africa, killed brutally: man, woman and child. Our country could have stopped, could still stop it; but we don't.

The more I learn about the world and about US politics the more ashamed I become to call myself an American. Please elect somebody that will bring about positive change in the world rather than creating more instability and hatred.