Nevermore

 

 

"And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted - nevermore!"

Edgar Allan Poe

The Raven

Actually, this story has nothing to do with Edgar Allan Poe. Nor does it have anything to do with the new show The Following. It does however, have to do with a big problem that faces the world today as it did on many yesterdays. It has to do with man's inhumanity to man.

Let me start with a story within the story. When I was a young lad, I was skinny and weak. An easy target for a bully. It just so happened we had a neighborhood kid who was bigger, tougher and meaner and loved to use me as a punching bag. This went on for years until one day when we were both playing in a neighborhood softball game, he pushed me for no apparent reason. Something inside me snapped. A strong voice screamed out "No more!". I hit him, and hit him and then got on top of him and hit him some more. Finally his mother came over and pulled me off of him. I went home and my parents treated me like a conquering hero. I was never bullied again, by him or anyone else. I don't tolerate it on me, on my kids, on anyone. Nevermore.

My oldest daughter works in an organization that fights against genocide. To me, genocide is bullying to the maximum degree. It is ending life just for the sake of killing. It has gone on for years, and continues to this day. I remember clearly in 1994 when so many were concerned about the war crimes that Slobodan Milosevic was committing in Serbia and Yugoslavia. As bad as these crimes were, they were minor compared to what was going on in Rwanda. In April 1994, Hutus began slaughtering the Tutsis in the African country of Rwanda. This carnage lasted 100 days as the world watched the air war going on in the Balkans. Meanwhile, the Rwanda genocide left about 800,000 Tutsis and Hutu sympathizers dead and many more disfigured. Not to be too graphic, but the carnage was beyond human terms. Many who survived lost limbs. Young woman had their breasts cut off so their nursing babies would starve to death. The feckless United Nations did nothing. The Western World did nothing. We were all watching the video game going on in the Balkans. Nevermore.

During the recent gun debate, the President of the NRA said at a Senate hearing the only thing that will stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. The same holds true on a world stage. If a group a people, or a country is determined to eliminate another group of people, the only thing that will stop them is more force. Right now, the world has no desire to stop bad guys with guns. All we need do is look to Syria. 60,000 dead and counting. George W. Bush took out Saddam Hussein who had committed genocide on his own people. The result? Some on the American Left called President Bush a "war criminal" for doing the world a favor.
  
Until mankind can treat each other in a Godly and humane manner, we all need to to be vigilant. We need to ensure that any bully on the world stage is dealt with and dealt with quickly. We need to look to our past, our present as well as the future and make this promise to each other - we will never again look the other way. Nevermore!