AHHHH, MARCH!
Welcome a new month! A month that welcomes spring. Today, I was reading for a Russian Modernism paper I must write by 5pm March 9th. I am creating this paper about a piece of Soviet Poster Propaganda Art. I realized as I set out to do this that I know not nearly enough about the history of Soviet Russia. I spent the afternoon reading a art school shortened history of this country. That was enough for me. It weighed quite heavily on me that I knew very little about the atrocities occurring in the last hundred years. In school we learned of the rampage Hitler lead and the massive amount of murders the happened during the Holocaust - 6 million Jews killed. Yet we were never even hinted to the fact that Stalin's "Purges" resulted in the murder of 21 million people. Twenty-one million! That is the known number. Not even a number I can fathom. That is the population of Australia. And that is one occasion. What about the ongoing killings in China? The massacres of Darfur, the Congo, countless other countries in Africa, Thailand, Cambodia, what is happening to the Burmese. I realize that this is a heavy weight to impart upon children in school - but we spent sections of curriculum learning about the Holocaust, a month learning about the Titanic sinking and not even five minutes were given to the acknowledgement of the death of these millions of others at the hands of their fellow man. Oh, yes, and I suppose we shouldn't get involved because it is not our place to get involved. We can't be the world's police. No we shouldn't get involved. Saddam Hussein, a man who IDOLIZED Stalin, who was responsible for the al-Anfal Campaign during which as many as 200,000 people where killed. It is not just one man doing this though. People are listening. People are following out these horrific orders. Taking life.
That is intense. I'm sitting here reading this and trying not to become angry and trying to hold back the tears for all these people whose lives were taken and their families all killed in one moment... not one person left to notice they are gone from this earth. Then I think how lucky I am, we are, to live in a country where my life and death is not decided by the mood of an insane dictator. What can I do to stop this from happening again? I don't know. Nothing probably. A friend of mine, her mother always says to her that she must always remember what happened in the Holocaust and it is her make sure it doesn't happen again. But it has, over and over and over. What can I do? I'm still waiting for that answer.
Welcome a new month! A month that welcomes spring. Today, I was reading for a Russian Modernism paper I must write by 5pm March 9th. I am creating this paper about a piece of Soviet Poster Propaganda Art. I realized as I set out to do this that I know not nearly enough about the history of Soviet Russia. I spent the afternoon reading a art school shortened history of this country. That was enough for me. It weighed quite heavily on me that I knew very little about the atrocities occurring in the last hundred years. In school we learned of the rampage Hitler lead and the massive amount of murders the happened during the Holocaust - 6 million Jews killed. Yet we were never even hinted to the fact that Stalin's "Purges" resulted in the murder of 21 million people. Twenty-one million! That is the known number. Not even a number I can fathom. That is the population of Australia. And that is one occasion. What about the ongoing killings in China? The massacres of Darfur, the Congo, countless other countries in Africa, Thailand, Cambodia, what is happening to the Burmese. I realize that this is a heavy weight to impart upon children in school - but we spent sections of curriculum learning about the Holocaust, a month learning about the Titanic sinking and not even five minutes were given to the acknowledgement of the death of these millions of others at the hands of their fellow man. Oh, yes, and I suppose we shouldn't get involved because it is not our place to get involved. We can't be the world's police. No we shouldn't get involved. Saddam Hussein, a man who IDOLIZED Stalin, who was responsible for the al-Anfal Campaign during which as many as 200,000 people where killed. It is not just one man doing this though. People are listening. People are following out these horrific orders. Taking life.
That is intense. I'm sitting here reading this and trying not to become angry and trying to hold back the tears for all these people whose lives were taken and their families all killed in one moment... not one person left to notice they are gone from this earth. Then I think how lucky I am, we are, to live in a country where my life and death is not decided by the mood of an insane dictator. What can I do to stop this from happening again? I don't know. Nothing probably. A friend of mine, her mother always says to her that she must always remember what happened in the Holocaust and it is her make sure it doesn't happen again. But it has, over and over and over. What can I do? I'm still waiting for that answer.
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