The fight.
5:05 AM"courage is not the absence of fear but the judgement that something else is more important than fear"-Ambrose Redmoon
I am a people pleaser. I don't like conflict and I usually don't allow myself to be a controversial figure. Well all of that changed within a matter of a few days. This is worth everything.
This isn't a scam and it's not a conspiracy. Invisible Children is a small grassroots organization that believed that if the world knew of the 26 year long conflict and the atrocities of the man that had brutalized their friends, that the world would respond. And after 7 years of hard and thankless work that is exactly what has happened. The world knows and while many will sit around trying to deny and disprove the story and this organization, the rest of the world is speaking out and asking for justice.
The most common thing I hear from parents is that they have never seen their children care about international issues but now they want to do something. It's youth for the youth and it's never been louder or more apparent. And it's not because they are buying action kits and bracelets, it's because they stand up to fight for the well being of others.
This was encouraging and insightful for me today:
"The critics so quick to tear down Invisible Children should, in fact, be studying how they managed to reach such a wide audience with this story rather than complaining that the video didn’t meet their standards. Whatever the simplifications, the LRA kidnaps children for use as sex slaves and child soldiers and has raped and murdered its way through a three-country swath of central Africa for a generation" http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_reckoning/2012/03/13/kony_baloney.com
Although it seems like Kony's name came out of nowhere, this in no way happened overnight. The success of this video was a result of the human connection that Invisible Children has been fostering for years. Read my story and that of others here, http://www.invisiblechildren.com/movement.html
The road right now demands us to be strong. We are the face and that human connection for the millions seeking answers, involvement, inspiration and everything under the sun. To the majority of the people you are the coolest person ever but to a select few you are the devil and you never know what type of person will ask you questions when you take the stage.
Invisible Children as an organization has stepped up and become completely transparent, more transparent than an average non profit ever becomes, and they have answered the questions of the world. I have never experienced adversity of this sort but I have also never believed in myself like I do now. It requires me to step up as well and share what I know in a loving and understanding way.
As much as I would rather not be cussed out in the middle of a lunchroom by a highschool boy twice my size, I also would rather not allow my children to grow up in a world with a Joseph Kony. The end result I am confident will be greater than my current struggle.
Today a Rwandan rebel leader became the first person tried in the international criminal court. You may not believe in the power of a tweet or a film share or a facebook message but what has been crafted in the last week is a resistance to injustice, not just for Kony but for any rebel leader. Keep this movement going, you are needed.
"evil can only triumph when good men do nothing" -Edmund Burke
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