Remember how women became the unsung heroes in the world wars while the men were away “winning the war.” Unsung, but heroic nonetheless. Now women are subjected to something else during wartime. Oh yes, they are still the ones left to hold it all together, but when they speak out there is a chance of retalliation.
Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is now considered the world’s worst dictator. From most accounts he has completely turned his back on the practices going on in his country. Frequent rapings and pillaging of women have left some too scared to talk to anyone. Once the government is spoken out against, it is almost certain someone will come looking for them. This has happened in the Congo. I am sure it has happened around the world where people know the world won’t come running. It seems there is so much red tape all around. Would it be this way if those atrocities were being performed right in the good ol’ US of A. I would like to think not. But even more than that I know not. And I wonder why that is. Why did our founders put certain faith and understanding in human life that others around the world have not? And why is it our job to stick our noses into terrorism that only affects us if we really believe this to be true. I would like to think of ourselves as leaders, but I am forced into thinking of our country as more of posers. We strike the pose that we believe in the value of human life, yet only this week was Omar al-Bashir brought up on any charges concerning the situation that has happened and is happening in Sudan. How long has it gone on? Years and years, and only now is the world beginning to acknowledge it in any way that can bring justice. This must change.
I think women must stand together and speak out against these atrocities. I think that women must decide our own fates, where we may, and they must be wrapped up and soaked in helping others. This is a belief I have that is all at once entangled in my faith and not, because I know who we are meant to be and what we are worth in Jesus, but I also know the worth of a human life. And although the two might be mutually exclusive I understand the world’s religious system that makes it not so and hard to say. So that chance has to be given and we have to be grabbing our opportunities by the horns as they say. Mine is only beginning. I don’t know quite who I am or where I am going to be but it’s not a scary place that I have been imagining. It is a place of hope and freedom and the giving of mercy that Christ so readily gave to me.
I know this is a jumbled mess of emotions, but I feel that we have to get the word out. If you don’t know about Zimbabwe, the Congo, or Sudan, please do some reading, and share with others. Then maybe together we can figure out a way to help and continue speaking out, although we are far away.
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