If everyone cared…
Try to think how many times did you ask yourself whether you should care about things happening around or just ignore it? Whether you should speak about things that you consider is not proper or just keep the silence? Whether you should protest unjust acts or simply carry on with your own staff and have a quiet life? Whether you should change things that you don’t like or just be a tree and persist in living on the same spot until someone cuts you off or in the best case wait to be in your wane. This list of “whether”s is pretty long though. All of us have different “whether”s depending on our personal interests, environments that we live in, beliefs that we have and on and on.
People that I have seen in my quit short life are so different. Some of them are brave and cogent enough to CARE, some are very afraid and egoistic. The latter people prefer to follow their own interests and concerns, rather than to be brave and big enough to CARE!
Hereinafter, in this article I want to discuss those people that did CARE and try to answer what would have happened if everyone cared like they did. Here are some facts that could be interesting for you!
In 1920s, a boy from a small South African village dreamt of a day with equality would prevail over his country. After years of activism he was charged with political treason and sentenced to life imprisonment. His dream of equality never died. In 1990, after 27 years in prison, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was finally released. Mandela then led South Africa to its first ever democratic presidential elections. Nearly 19 million people turned up. Nelson Mandela won the elections ending the racist apartheid regime that divided South Africa for 46 years.
In 1960s, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., activist and prominent leader in the African-American civil rights movement, traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action. In these years, he led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that caught the attention of the entire world, providing what he called a coalition of conscience. This resulted in his well known, inspiring "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" which is a manifesto of the Negro revolution. Later, he directed the peaceful march in Washington, D.C., where he delivered his famous "l Have a Dream” speech to 250,000 people. In general, he was arrested upwards of twenty times and assaulted at least four times; he was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963 and became not only the symbolic leader of Afro-Americans but also a world figure. At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. On the evening of April 4, 1968, he was assassinated while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city.
In 1961, two students in Portugal raised their glasses in a toast for freedom. They were imprisoned for 7 years. British lawyer Peter Benison was shocked by the events and he wrote to the local newspaper to rally support for the students. The response was so overwhelming that a committee was formed to organize a campaign. It quickly moved in to a worldwide moment known today as the Amnesty international.
In 1976, Betty Williams, a receptionist and a mother of two witnessed three children killed during the political turmoil in Northern Ireland. Within two days of the tragic event Williams obtained 6,000 signatures petitioning for peace. She led 10,000 people on a peace march to the children’s graves. The peaceful march was disrupted by protesters. One week later Williams organized another march this time the march was 35,000 strong. As a result, Betty Williams was awarded the Noble Peace Price in 1976.
In 1984, Rob Geldof, music journalist, was inspired by a news report about Africa’s famine epidemic and began his fight against world hunger. Geldof organized the world’s first global charity concert “live aid”, performed by 100 artists around the world, were viewed by 1.5 billion people. “Live aid” raised 150 million pounds in one day.
In 1992, Chingiz Mustafayev, Azerbaijani journalist that was granted the state order of the National Hero of Azerbaijan posthumously, was the man behind the TV camera, who filmed the scene of Khojaly Genocide committed in the first “Yukhari Karabakh” war, though at a cost of his own life. To make the footage Chingiz had to travel on an army helicopter, and despite coming under fire he managed to film the evidence of the Khojaly Massacre showing hundreds of dead bodies strewn across snow-covered fields. The pictures are accompanied by the shocked voice of Chingiz which is in the brains of every single Azerbaijani. He made a millions to realize the greatness of the honor when you can die for your motherland.
These people, that I mentioned hereinabove, were leaders of all others that CARED. They would never be able to do things that they had done without support, without support of all others!
So, let’s just think what would happen if everyone CARED?
CHANGE would happen!
CHANGE that let South African people to end the racist apartheid regime; CHANGE that finished horrible racial segregation in the States; CHANGE that makes people to appreciate the glory of freedom; CHANGE that brings peace to our world; CHANGE that saves a human life and gives a hope to others; CHANGE that makes people to realize the responsibility in front of their motherland.
So, please CARE! Please CARE wherever you are! As a student in your university, please care about the quality of your program and about those that will be students after you; as an employee, please care that you contribute to the business; as a tax payer, please care that your taxes are not wasted in a stupid way, but invested in the quality of your life; as a citizen, please care that your voice is counted; as a friend, please care that your friend will share his/her problems and happiness with you when needed; as a spouse, please care that your life partner is happy with you; as an inhabitant of the Earth, please care about your environment.
In other words, I would say – Indifference Kills!
09th of July, 2009 – 18:50!
W
I.A.
