Just because it isn't happening here, doesn't mean it isn't happening. It's happening. Save the Children website has a lot of good fundraising ideas, so I posted them on here:
What sad story material Jk JK... These are some really good ideas Have you considered taking them to your school principal or service club leaders?
What a sad video, even more so because this has been a reality for children all over my former country (now deceased) and you are right, it's still happening today, all over the world. Unfortunately with war, and especially in civilian areas, those who should and could ensure it no longer happens don't actually care about other people or their children. They are always observing the mayhem they created from a protected position, and their children are removed to schools in countries far away from any conflict. Very sad, but it's wonderful you are thinking about helping, that's the most any of us can do.
I don't want to be a dick, but honestly, all countries have enough problems in their own country without helping others.
And maybe it's thinking like that that allows all those problems to persist, leaving nobody free to resolve anything. And frankly, some places have it much, much worse than most countries around Europe. Sure we have problems, but especially those of us in wealthier countries where there's no conflict, no war, no military patrolling our streets, where there's freedom of speech, where we're generally not afraid to walk out of our houses in case we get shot or bombed and where we could walk into any shop and expect abundant food supply and have a safe place to put our heads at night and expect our father or mother or spouse or children to come home at the end of the day without danger or fear of kidnapping - we should perhaps realise how blessed we are and that, actually, it is those of us in comfort who have the duty to keep those who are suffering safe. Selfishness in the face of disasters does not create a better place - either in someone else's country or even your own. If you were compassionate enough to care for children of another country, very likely you probably care about the starving children of your own country too. If, however, you were cold enough not to even think we should help dying children in war-torn countries, it's not very likely that you would care enough to do much about the suffering on your own doorstep. What I mean is - if you're compassionate, you'd care about both your own country and the countries around the world, and for such a person the only question is how best to balance and distribute what strength and resources they have, but helping is not a question. If you're not compassionate, it wouldn't matter where the suffering is happening - you still wouldn't do a thing.
It's not because a country is not at war that it is not dangerous. Most of the top-ranked most dangerous cities, in terms of crimes, are in "peaceful" countries. Marseilles, for example. Or a number of United-Statesian cities.
That is true, but are you really trying to make the case that a place like Nottingham or Chicago might be more dangerous than pretty much anywhere right now in Syria - or perhaps North Korea? I'm not saying work doesn't need to be done also in our own cities, even if they seem small in comparison - I'm saying it's a matter of distribution of resources, and a matter of human compassion.
There are a few good sayings that I feel are pertinent here: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." - Martin Luther King Jr. "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke "Doing nothing for others is the undoing of ourselves." - Horace Mann “He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.” - Abraham Lincoln While every country has it's own issues, we humans are all one people. We are in this life together, despite our imagined differences. It is our responsibility to help each other if we want to survive and progress as a species. It is man's self-oriented, dispassionate, disharmonious thinking that has caused the most ruin in the world. Sure, the U.S. has it's fair share of problems such as violence, poverty, unemployment, and bad politics; however, all it takes to fix those problems is for smart, caring people to stand up and become more actively engaged. Instead of just voting and whining about how the idiots of the country are ruining everything, start thinking of solutions and trying to get people on board to implement them. Don't just vote people out of office; do the research to find who is best, or start putting forth new candidates. Stop paying companies for cheap service and limited jobs. Get involved according to our civil responsibility. Many other countries don't have that type of fix. They can't just start getting involved and making a push. Over here we have a swing with our votes, our money, and our willingness to get engaged. Those in many other countries don't have that. They don't have the money to start their own movements or cause any pull on national economy. They don't have the means to stand up and get engaged for change without being violently put down. They are not protected by a national bill of rights. The best they have are entities like the U.N. and NATO, but even those entities rely on the action of the member countries. As Uncle Ben said, "With great power comes great responsibility." We have an abundance of power and wealth. The only thing that stops us from getting involved is politics. The question is always "is it in America's best interest to get involved?" That sounds like a reasonable question until you consider that it doesn't just mean "will we get thrown into unnecessary war?" The underlying question is "can we gain a political foothold here by getting involved more heavily?" or even, "will we lose any allies by acting against the recognized government?" Meanwhile, the only people really hurt are those with uncertain access to food and water, safe shelter, and transportation for escape. Over here we face violence from small unrecognized factions of criminals such as gangs, domestic terrorists, and petty selfish people out to advance themselves at the expense of others. We worry because there is crime, but we are comparatively at peace knowing that it's being combated (to some degree, at least) by some sanctioned authority (the police). In those war-torn societies, people are afraid because they are being hailed on by sanctioned governments (their own, and others) as well as potential crime born out of desperation. We cry about going to war, but all we lose are men and women on foreign soil. That is bad--don't get me wrong. However, we are not at risk of losing our homes, our schools, our food, our lives... We are safe, and we worry for our men and women who've deployed. The men and women and children in places like the one depicted in the video, the have to worry about those things. Will their houses be there? Will their schools or stores be there? Will they be able to get away? Will they have anywhere to go? If our government can't get involved, as a political entity, then the burden falls to the people of privileged and powerful nations to stand up and do what we can. Even if all we can do is raise money for food, clothes, or disaster relief, we should do what we can. The more people that come together under one common goal, the more we can accomplish. The power of united thought is grossly underestimated these days. We just don't get it. It's not about us and them. They are us, and we are them. Letting them suffer is like the rest of the body saying the left arm can fight a disease on its own and refusing to activate the immune system there. But hey, despite how strongly I feel about this, or how much I know it to be true, I'll say this is just my opinion. Feel free to see things differently and not feel pressured or judged.
Unfortunately three quarters of this planet are utter dimwits and probably tl;dr'ed that and don't give a rat's arse about Syria. Sorry, it's the truth and it's not about to change.
Absolutely nothing. I have nothing to contribute, except what others have already said. But as I just said, if anyone was bothered by this, something would have happened. It's the same situation in other countries in Syria, yet it persists.
You're right, it is a widespread issue, but it's people who say, "well no one else cares, so don't waste your breath." that do the most damage. Again, "He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help." If you don't have the heart to help, you've got nothing to say. "Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them." - the Dalai Lama. I know you don't mean to hurt, but like I said, comments with the basic message that "nobody really cares" do more harm than good. They are better left unsaid in threads about raising awareness and/or interest. Feel free to disagree, but it's just something to think about.
Indeed, though I feel it necessary to point out that, it's the hard truth, but not many people do. I myself have done charitable things for Africa. What do I see for it? No improvements, naught has changed. If more people did it, a change could be made. A change of such epic proportions would require full participation of the entire world, though, not a few million people.
A man stood on a beach. He picked up a starfish that lay dying in the heat of the sun and threw it back into the water, saving it's life. His friend came to him and said, "What are you doing that for? Can't you see there are thousands of starfish on this beach, you can't possibly make a difference". The man picked up another starfish, threw it into the water and said, "I made a difference to that one".
@Dagolas : If you were orphaned, hungry, alone, suffering from some treatable and preventable disease because your still tribal government thrived on guerrilla conflict, you lived in a war zone and risked being abused by soldiers every day, whilst big western corporation mined your country for diamonds not giving a rat's ass about the civilians and human rights, and your life depended on Red Cross food packages, would you feel better if you knew someone on the other side of the world just shrugged their shoulders at your suffering and your next aid packet was empty, or would you feel better knowing they cared and tried to help you enough so you at least have a full stomach for the night? I support kids in war zones, just one at a time, but I see them in school, they write me letters and send pictures, I watch them grow up, become better nourished, healthier and happier and two of them are now at university. And when the program started, they didn't even have clean drinking water. My sister donates money for villages and families to buy cowes and goats for milk and chickens for eggs. This feeds families. Another woman I know, her daughter established Water Aid. If we all just shrugged our shoulders, thousands of people would have much worse lives then they currently have. Making excuses is easy. Helping takes effort and sacrifice. But to those people, it's definitely worth it.
I saw that video on TV, MSNBC I think, not sure. It makes an excellent point. It's easy to put things out of one's mind by viewing it as 'other', not relative to 'me', so I like how they made the connection visually. Sadly, there is also the issue of being overwhelmed with so much tragedy in the world one simply doesn't act on any of it. I think if one works for any humanitarian cause, one is doing something, even if it is not helping young girls in Syria. There's a piece on sex trafficking in my novel, among other social travesties. It's been the hardest section to write because the genre is YA and I have to balance the horrors of rape and sex slavery with not completely disaffecting the readers. Even knowing about it, reading and writing about it, sex slavery still seems like something 'other', hard to relate to. I had a patient once, an infant. His mother stayed in the room with him and I got to know her a bit. She had escaped Vietnam as one of the boat people. The stories she told were mind boggling, pirates, sharks, scary stuff. I cannot fully imagine what that was like. I look at the city as I drive through it sometimes wondering what would it be like if there was a war right here? There's too much of a disconnect and I cannot picture war in my own city, in my neighborhood. But I know that's what it's like for millions of people, a normal life one day and the shock of war the next.
I think one of the important things to consider is that we can't help everyone, but we can help some. Because of this, we should find a cause that we are passionate about and get involved to make a difference in as many lives as we can. We can't all be heroes who save hundreds of people in our life time, but if we can contribute a little here and a little there to improve the lives of those who pass our way, then it is enough. Of course nothing we do is ever enough, but it will be enough to do something meaningful for at least those few people. All life has value, and all living things value their lives (almost). Even small acts of kindness can be meaningful enough to someone.
I used to give to charity, but after working with the gov's own department that deals with foreign aid I lost interest. It's all shady. Don't get me wrong they do good work but its all dodgy, full of back handers
That is unfortunate, but not an uncommon testimony. Sometimes I wonder about giving money to certain charities, and these days I typically don't just because I know that it often goes into false or weak research. It may sound unsympathetic, but I don't generally give money to cancer research because I know cures can be found with the amount of money they already have. Trouble is, certain entities don't want a solid cure because they will lose money from ongoing treatments. They've actually shut down and/or banned certain treatments that have been shown to work. Please ignore my comment about cancer research or PM me if you have issue with it. That's not what this thread is about, and I don't want to derail it. While I don't donate money to what I see as false research, I do donate clothes, and food often. I give money to homeless people when I can, and on occasion even treat them to a meal. I like to cook and have considered handing out plates to some of the regulars near my campus. I just don't have the means to do it...
You can check CharityWatch for a list of top-rated charities. Ratings are determined based on how much of the donated money actually goes towards the cause.
@Lae : Government aid is a completely different thing from individual charities. You can always find one that deals with people directly, rather than a massive organisation in between.
