Kony.

I'm about to be extremely contradicting in this blog, I can tell you that before I even write it. It might seem like I'm against people who are trying to make the world a better place. It might seem like I'm saying the world should do nothing. I'm not. If you don't like my opinions that's fine, but I'm going to share them anyway because right now I have to write this out. I have to tell someone, and who better than anyone who can be bothered reading this overly massive rant? And please don’t tell me I’m wrong. They are opinions. By their very nature they cannot be right or wrong. That’s the beauty of a blog.

If you haven’t heard of Joseph Kony by now, you probably don’t have the internet. If you don’t have the internet you can’t read this anyway. So let’s just assume you know what I'm talking about and you’ve seen the Kony 2012 clip (if you’ve got half an hour spare maybe go watch it if you haven’t already - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc&feature=youtube_gdata_player). This clip captures everything I love, hate, and am confused about in the world. It’s the sort of thing that makes me sit back, take stock, shed a few tears, get mad, feel motivated, be happy I am contributing in some small way, wish there was more I was doing, and then close the screen down, continue on with my day and subsequently forget.

Because isn’t that what you all did too? Get all motivated to ‘do something’, bitch about the injustice in the world, perhaps click a few links and sign a few petitions (before really looking into the organisation and what it is you’re actually signing), feel good that you actually have done something (which you very well may have, only time will tell) and then realise you have other things you need to get done today and move on. I know I have other things I should be doing instead of writing about this right now.

The people who made this clip though? They didn’t get on with their day. They didn’t go back to their day to day living. They saw these things first hand. That makes a huge difference when it comes to instigating change. Seeing it on your computer screen is very different to being there, to experiencing it. Everyone has something they care most for when it comes to compassion and charity. For some it’s animal cruelty, for others it’s homeless youth in your own country. Mine has always been children in third world countries. Children born into countries where the government is so corrupt and the entire country is so poor they are given no real chance at life. My heart goes out to them and it kills me a little bit every time I think about what they suffer through on a daily basis. So I really do appreciate what these guys are doing. It’s something I don’t think I’d have the determination or willpower to do, as much as I wish I did, so I'm grateful that they, at least, do.

The clip created by Invisible Children has some very powerful, very true, very worthwhile messages in it. Messages like
“Who are you to end a war? I ask who are you not to?”
“Where you live shouldn’t determine if you live”
“We are not just studying human history, we are shaping it”

Of course, these messages are nothing new. It’s just like the quote attributed to Gandhi over one hundred years ago – “Be the change you want to see in the world”. But they are messages that we need to be reminded of every now and then. The problem is, even though this clip isn’t just messages, even though it does instigate action, the people behind it have made changes and they are giving the world a way to help, rather than just saying they should help, even though all of this has happened, I can’t help but think it isn’t enough. It won’t work. Or even if it does work, it still won’t be enough.

There’s been a bit of scepticism about the group behind this clip as well – Invisible Children. I read an interesting little rant from a girl who looked into the group before jumping on the Kony 2012 bandwagon and found that the not for profit group had a total revenue of $13,765,177 in 2011, with total expenses at $8,894630. This leaves a leftover profit of $4,870,547. Over 4 million dollars profit for a not for profit organisation. I'm not sure how that adds up. To be honest, that’s not really my concern, though it was interesting at the time and something worthwhile noting. I'm sure this is case with other not for profits fundraising money to help those less fortunate, too...

But back to Kony and Uganda. We’ve had governments step in to help other countries before, as is often necessary, but that doesn’t mean it works. America still has troops in Iran and Afghanistan. A lot of American citizens are calling for these troops to come back home. Osama Bin Laden is dead, but their soldiers still aren’t home. The point I'm making is that just because armed forces are there, doesn’t mean these criminal leaders will be stopped. And even if they are stopped, it doesn’t mean the war will end. It doesn’t mean justice will be served. It can, however, mean more innocent lives are taken as collateral damage. That is a sweeping statement, I'm aware, and I’ll admit I haven’t really looked into this, but I feel it’s still a statement worth considering.

My other problem is, apparently “Kony moved out of Uganda” and it “is relatively safe” now. So sending troops to help the army in a country where Kony is no longer based ... doesn’t seem to make that much sense, especially if they aren’t allowed to cross into surrounding countries to follow him. And of course, the big one, even if they do find him and kill him, will it change anything?

Will doing something actually do something? This is where you’re going to get annoyed at me. I'm slightly annoyed at myself but this is the one thing I can’t seem to be optimistic about. Africa is a continent that has always struggled with power. Corrupt government leaders are a dime a dozen and if I were to say “starving children forced into labour and slavery with the worst living conditions possible” I bet your first thought is Africa. Am I right? The world would certainly be a better place without Joseph Kony in it and some peace might be instilled back into Ugandan people. But I wonder whether his capture would silence the LRA? Or would another leader simply step up and take charge, and possibly revenge, abducting and killing even more innocent victims? Would these child soldiers, who have been brainwashed to kill and now know no other lifestyle, be able to rejoin their families? Would they want to? Would they know how to?

There is so much injustice in the world. Most of us are lucky because it’s only on our TV screens. We don’t live in fear and we can go to bed at night without wondering if we are going to be kidnapped. But for a lot of the world, that’s just the way life is. That’s the way life is in Sudan where President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is considered responsible for over 300,000 deaths and the ongoing suffering of 2.5 million Sudanese who have been subjected to government-sponsored rape and torture in refugee camps. That’s the way of life for those in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where military leader Bosco Ntaganda is wanted for the active use of children under 15 for military activity. These lovely guys are both on the ICC's most wanted list (http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2008/08/03/the_list_the_worlds_six_most_wanted_war_criminals) And what’s that? Both these countries are in Africa? Hmm.

I understand why Kony was chosen to fight against in this ‘war for peace’; he’s top of the list for war crimes. But stopping him won’t stop war crimes in Africa. It might not even stop them in Uganda. Sending foreign armies in to fight won’t change the way of the country. I genuinely believe problems in Africa can’t be fixed from the outside. Unless you can capture and kill every corrupt leader in every country, things won’t change for a long, long time. Possibly ever. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you can’t save people from themselves or their surroundings.

That said, I still believe it’s absolutely one of the most worthwhile causes to try. And if you’re anything like me, living the absolute most privileged life, then isn’t it only fair to try to help those less fortunate? Even if all you’re doing is recognising the problem. Doing something, even something small, is better than doing nothing. And what have you done with your day today?

don't let me down.

People often go on about not having expectations of others and that way you can’t get hurt. Or not trusting anyone so no one can break your trust. I want the exact opposite of this. Yes, of course, it sucks if you give your trust to people and they screw you over with it. It sucks that one person can shape the way you trust (or don’t trust) for the rest of your life. It sucks if someone lets you down. But I feel it would be so much worse if the only reason you were never let down by anyone was because you never gave anyone a chance to do so in the first place. If you never care about someone enough or love them strongly enough to be excruciatingly disappointed when they do something wrong by you, then why bother loving at all? You can’t have happiness without sadness – you need to suffer through some tough times to appreciate the good ones. If I love someone I want to have the absolute highest expectations of them. I want to trust them with my life (let’s face it, essentially that’s what you’re doing when you let yourself love someone, anyone – friends, family, lovers). I’d rather get completely fucked over knowing it’s because I put everything into a relationship than avoid any feeling of disappointment because I didn’t truly invest in it. You always get most annoyed and feel most let down by the people you care most about. This is only natural. Little things they do can frustrate and upset you, whereas if it was someone you didn’t love doing those same things, you probably wouldn’t have a second thought about it. Even when I'm annoyed at the people I love, I always remember that it’s only because I love them so much that I'm able to be annoyed in the first place. I want to live knowing I gave my relationships my all, putting all my trust into people and in turn trusting them with my happiness. And if I get screwed over in the process, I want to be glad that at least it’s because I was able to love that strongly, that deeply, to care that much about it.