Forgiveness

"Forgiveness is not the suppression of anger.  Forgiveness is asking for a miracle, the ability to see through someone's mistakes to the truth that lies within all of our hearts."

-"Kinyarwanda"

KONY 2012

Well... this is interesting.

Invisible Children has launched their newest campaign, and it is to bring Joseph Kony to justice by the end of 2012.

(NOTE: Before you give any of your time or money to Invisible Children, PLEASE, I BEG YOU, check them out at Charity Navigator, an organization that reports on transparency and other aspects of charitable organizations.  From what I've seen both here and on the ground myself... there are far better programs that need your money, ones that do far more effective work on the ground.  Now back to business...)

Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, has been rampaging around East and Central Africa - kidnapping, murdering, terrorizing - for over 25 years.  But we're going to bring him to justice within a year?

I have lived and researched in Northern Uganda, home to Joseph Kony.
I have ridden motorcycles through the bush with former child soldiers.
I have spent time with residents of IDP camps, hearing their stories of suffering.
I have a father with bullet wounds from LRA soldiers and a mother who held a man while he died after an attack.
I want Kony brought to justice as much as anyone out there.

But I'm not sure this is the way to go about it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm elated to see so much attention and enthusiasm directed at a place I call home.  There has been an overwhelming outpouring of support for the people I have come to call family, and it is beautiful.  But as vlogger Hank Green has said, "International relations are not conducted on the time scale of the internet."

This war has been going on for over TWENTY-FIVE YEARS.  What that means is that it is complex, it is difficult (if not impossible) to resolve, and it takes far more than some internet buzz to end.  There are reasons why he hasn't been brought to justice yet, and the history begs for far more detail than Invisible Children often provides.

After the failure of the Juba Peace Talks in 2008, the US attempted to intervene and capture Kony in 2009 in a failed project called Operation Lightning Thunder.  And what did it lead to?  MASS RETALIATION, including abductions, deaths, and thousands of people displaced.  Not exactly the most successful endeavor.

If we want Kony to be stopped, it will take dedication.  It will take careful planning, and not by kids on the internet, but by diplomats and military liaisons and government officials.  Who have already been working on bringing Kony to justice for years, long before you ever heard his name in a YouTube video on your Facebook newsfeed.   

We, as the youth of the world, are incredibly powerful.  We have, however, a tendency towards terribly short attention spans.  This quest for Kony cannot turn into an internet fad that loses steam in a few weeks' time.  I fear that may be what happens here.

So before we all start blowing up Facebook about Kony 2012, let's ask ourselves... are we still going to care in three weeks?  Three months?  Three years?  This is a marathon, not a sprint.  Kony has been at it for longer than I have been on this earth, and international intervention takes far longer than a Facebook update takes to write.

Get active, get excited, and get passionate, but first think hard about what it really takes to affect change.  Read: more than a twitter post.

TEDxlaf

For the second year in a row, a dedicated group of students organized an independent TED event at Lafayette.  Their theme, "Redefining We," centered around what it means to be a community and in a broader sense, what it means to be citizens of the world.  Thanks to my experiences abroad and resulting perspectives, as well as my widely-known philosophies on community, I was asked to speak at the 2012 TEDxlaf conference.  The following is the transcript of my talk.  Your thoughts and comments are welcomed and appreciated.  Enjoy.

"Hate and Hope: How the Darkest Place on Earth Restored My Faith in Humanity"

I fancy myself somewhat of a storyteller.  I carry entire libraries under my skin, and all the tales I guard are destined to be shared.  The telling of stories is as old as mankind, and it has always served as a way to bridge gaps and bind ties.

But I have found, time and again, that being a storyteller is difficult.  It means letting the world into the darkest things you've seen, the most difficult things you've done, but somehow finding a way to turn that into something positive.  Into something people will feel hopeful after hearing, instead of empty and alone.

My standing here before you all can be summed up in one statement, four words to live by: love is the answer.  It is the simple truth, and it really is all you need to know.  Now before you write me off as a naive kid, an idealistic collegiate who doesn't know the hardship of the real world, just hear me out. 

Because I have only learned this after seeing some of the world's darkest secrets.  I have traveled to what was once hell on earth and looked into the eyes of men who wanted the death of their countrymen with a burning fire they could not quench with anything but spilt blood.

I have looked into the eyes of evil and come out alive, if a bit emotionally damaged, on the other side.  I have broken bread with the survivors of violence we cannot even begin to imagine.  I've seen what we are capable of, and today I'm here to tell my story.

Africa Saves

This is not the first time I have recognized that sometimes, someone just says it better than I ever could, and it is not the first time that that person has been writer and poet Carlos Andrés Goméz.

This poem speaks for itself, and again wraps up all my feelings into a neat package.

Listen.  Think.  Feel.

This is my Africa.