Even as the New Year has come and gone, change, often avoided or dismissed, becomes an overwhelming motivator. When we devise annual resolutions, too often our thoughts turn inward rather than outward. Instead of concerning ourselves with the state of the world, we focus on how we have gained a world of weight, researching new fangled diets and fitness routines, all designed to re-sculpt our bodies. During these festive days, pernicious problems abound which should vex our minds -- both globally and locally, from sexual abuse of minors and cyberbullying to hate crimes and continuing genocides. While these abhorrent events have the capacity to destroy and have, in fact, ended countless lives, all too frequently we turn a blind eye.
In this year alone, we bore witness to a series of man-made, catastrophic events in many corners of the world. Witness:
Each day we have the ability to transform lives, to speak out against injustice, to be -- as first coined by National Security Council member Samantha Power -- "upstanders" for positive change. Why do we remain silent?
Speaking Out, Not Turning a Blind Eye: A Worthy New Year's Resolution
If we dared to do what was right, imagine what we might accomplish. What if we educated ourselves better about the consequences of bullying, bigotry and failing to act?
Consider the actions of the following organizations and individuals, who took decisive, life-altering steps:
Every day, whether it is bullying on the sports field or the Internet, inappropriate behavior in the locker room or workplace, each of us witness conduct and atrocities which cry out for action.
Dr. Joachim Prinz, the Chief Rabbi of Berlin during the Holocaust, in words that ring as true today as when they were uttered preceding Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" Speech, proclaimed:
"The most important thing that I learned ... was that bigotry and hatred are not the most urgent problem. The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence."
For this New Year's resolution, educate yourself, speak up against bullying, violence and the plight of others. Transform that seasonal desire for change into positive action for the greater good.
Evie Salomon is an Ernie Pyle Scholar at Indiana University's Honors School of Journalism. Richard Salomon, her father, is the CEO of a management consulting firm and a member of the Executive Committee of the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center. The views expressed are their own.
Vicky Shorr: My Woody Guthrie-Inspired Resolution
This is the cause of most of the Worlds conflicts, the degradation of Women, the justification for destroying the Environment.
Belief in the Floating Cloud man vs. reasoning, knowledge, fact, Science is ruining Planet Earth.
"The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence."
On the other hand, there's nothing in the article that acknowledges that real personal dangers are sometimes involved in speaking out. Granted that those dangers are almost always minor in comparison to the injustices that one would speak out about, but they're still real. They, too, would be less a threat, however, if we were better about supporting the more courageous people in our midst.
We're a fairly schizoid society when it comes to confronting injustice and abuse. Too many of us love television programs and movies featuring heroes who do just that, but don't feel the same when it's the person down the street, or in the next cubicle. Too many of us love courageous people, as long as they aren't courageous in such close quarters as to shine a light on our own cowardice, or rock the boat in any way that causes waves that can disrupt our comfort.
Here's to less comfort in the short term, and more justice--which will make for much more comfort in the long term for all involved.
We need to understand that "love your neighbor as you love yourself" is not only a pretty thing someone said to make us behave nicely, but it is ultimately the law of nature, the only way we can survive in the current inter-connected system. We will have to work together and unite in questioning our education system, our economic systems, our political systems, etc...that is the only way we will be able to change things...
Since its and there exists a total whiteout of media coverage of the Libyan situation.
Surprisingly, and proving the lies of the media, Muammar Gaddafi has been elected as "2011 Human Rights Hero" by the public voting on the "Human Rights Hero" of International Amnesty´s Poll page, which has been pulled by this organization. For a change, no main media has mentioned a word about this Poll´s result.
Um, no, I don't. I live and work in the US now and haven't served in a combat zone for a while, so "atrocities" are few and far between.
Besides, bullying is part of growing up. It teaches you how to identify people's intentions, how to defend yourself, and how to deal with being harassed in a non-lethal environment. If you miss those lessons you're kind of a babe in the woods once you reach adulthood.