Responsibility

It's no big secret that I follow and support the organisation, 'Invisible Children'. I feel it is a compelling movement and here's why.

The victims that are at the centre of all of this are African children. They have families, mothers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and grandparents. They live in fear of their lives. Their government sits by and watches as the harrowing events of death and torture unfold around them.

This is what I believe.

Children are our future. We can teach them about love and kindness and peace. We can give them a childhood that they'll look back on and enjoy. We can educate them so they grow to become successful and prosperous. Or we can teach them about the evils of this world and how to kill, and be treacherous.

It's the old battle between good and evil.

I look back on my childhood and wish i could be young again. I wish i could go back to a time when life wasn't full of cares or worries, just being a kid was bliss. But there are so many people out there who can't look back on those times because they never had a childhood like that. These are not just African children either, these are people who could very well live right next door to us.

A recent article was published about Jason Russell, one of the primary filmmakers of 'Kony 2012', a sub-branch of Invisible Children.

My point is this:

We are all responsible for our actions. Joseph Kony is responsible for his, our world leaders are responsible for theirs, Jason Russell is responsible for his and you and I are responsible for ours.

We live in a social network age where ideas and news stories are published around the world. In some sort of bizarre way, all citizens of the world have been brought together to co-inhabit the earth as a body of people.

In the past, we have been divided and segregated into our very own countries and yes, we still do live in each of our unique countries and cultures but through Social media and social networking, things such as this have been brought to our attention.

In the past, it may have been understandable to be ignorant or unaware of the global issues that go on around us, even more so for the less educated of us because it was simply not possible to communicate easily enough to be concerned with things so far away.

But today, there is no excuse for one single person to be ignorant and turn a blind eye to those that are suffering and hurting, no matter where in the world that might be. No excuse is good enough to sweep something under the carpet.

We each, as individuals, have a part to play in life, no matter how young or how old we are. As the internet becomes more widely spread and information and facts are more accessible now then they ever were, so too are we becoming more and more responsible for the actions that we do or do not take.

Jason Russell's latest story is disappointing at the very least and even though he's sure to have been under enormous pressure physically and emotionally, and may be trying to tackle something larger than life, there are no excuses for what he's done. But i won't condemn the man for his actions. He's responsible for those.

Those families in Africa are still being torn apart. Children are still being used as child soldiers. They're still being taught how to kill their fellow man. They're still being slain.

If people want to try and end this and stand up to these inhumane practices, of course i will support that.

I am responsible for the things of this world that i choose to believe in and support. I am responsible for the people that i choose to give my heart to. I am responsible for the actions that i take to see justice brought to the world.

No matter what we do in life, there is a risk that our leaders in society that we put our faith and trust in will fail us. It's unavoidable. Nothing will ever be achieved if we don't take risks and no organisation or individual for that matter, will ever be able to see change happen in our world if we aren't willing to put our money where our mouth is.