Results tagged “donations” from Cluck The Book

It's May 15th, when Bloggers Unite for Human Rights.  I had a difficult time deciding what to write about in support of human rights, because there's an awful lot to be fighting for right now.  In our "civilized" nation, we're stealing our own constitutional rights on such a regular basis that it's scary.  There's Myanmar: a country in need of aid, but the aid is being repressed by the government.  There's atrocities in the middle east, where there are so many gun-toting factions fighting for what they think is right (including the US) that it's hard to keep track.  The world is falling into a state that depressingly resembles a game of World of Warcraft than any sane person's ideal for society: we fight among ourselves in each other for personal advancement and profit, with no clear goal or purpose other than self gratification.

So instead, I'm going back to a universal rule that will help every situation at once.  It's a rule that I first discovered while attempting to maintain order in a very small college apartment with two other guys who were as irresponsible as I was.  We had a list of rules, in fact, including when to clean the toilet and such, but it's rule #7 that's stuck with me because it trumped all other rules and maintained order in an apartment of chaos:

It's profoundly good advice.  To the government of Myanmar, I say "don't be a Shit."  Give your people aid, and accept help no what political light you fear that might cast you in.  Anything else is just shitty.  To the profit-mongering oil companies who are driving old ladies from the homes they grew up in because they can't afford heat, I say "don't be a shit."  To the torturers of war, whichever side they might be on, I say "stop being shits," and to the terrorists who started the whole thing -- who I'm sure think they have good reasons for blowing people up -- I say, "you know, if you just step back and look what you're doing, it's pretty shitty. STOP IT!"

Not everyone is being a shit, of course: there are decent groups out there. My favorite is http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org  but there are many others.  If we all do our part, and if we all stop acting like a-holes, the world will be a better place.

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