If we knew now what we didn’t know then…

My dad was in WWII. I know that most of your grandparents were his age, but let's just say that I was a surprise to everyone when I arrived. Long before I was born, he was in Europe, he was at the Battle of the Bulge. For those of you who do not know what that means, he saw some of the bloodiest fighting in Europe. He never would talk about his time at war. But he and his fellow soldiers risked their lives so that people would not die. Jews and all others found undesirable, were executed in mass and my dad helped put an end to it. After learning what all was really going on, my dad and his peers wish that they had been involved earlier. Six million Jews were killed and the world let it happen. But really most people did not know or want to know. History helps us see so clearly.

In my lifetime there have been two major genocides. In 1994 800,000 Tutsis were massacred by the Hutus. The warning signs were there, but because it was an internal strife, and because it was Africa, the world stood by and again did nothing until it was too late. In 1992 the Bosnian Conflict turned for the worse. Over 200,000 Bosnian Muslims were slaughtered by the Serbs while the west watched and allowed it to take place. Again as we look back, we wonder why we did not do more, why did we not head this off earlier?

Five years from now when my kids are older, when they ask, daddy why didn't you do anything to stop the genocide in Darfur? I can't respond, I didn't know. I do know. Sudan's President, Omar Al-Bashir, has expelled 16 humanitarian aid organizations from Sudan, placing millions of Darfuri civilians at immediate risk. This means that in less than two weeks…

 

• 1.2 million people will need water
  
• 1.1 million people will need food
  
• 1.5 million people will be without access to health services
  

  
   

 

I do not have answers for this difficult conflict. But I want our government and the world to say to our leaders, we care about the people of Darfur. Yes our economy is a mess and yes we need to fix it, but I have clean water, food and shelter. I will not die because we are in a recession, but the millions in Darfur will if we do not act now.

 

So I am asking you to take two minutes and text the following:

 

Please send this text message to Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, at 90822.

 

Dear Secretary Clinton,

Please act now to ensure that humanitarian aid to Darfur is restored immediately. Millions are at risk!

Name
City, State 

 

How simple is that. Then I would ask you to pray and if you want to get involved contact Esther Sprague at esprague11@yahoo.com.

Pray for peace.

Edwin