User blog:Forestpaw13/Speech on Genocides... EDIT!

Hey, y'all. Can you help me? I need to edit a speech, on genocides. Reader discretion is actually VERY strongly advised. Ignore the citations- those are for my teacher.

Imagine for one second: you are an important political leader. One day, by various methods, you learn of a genocide going on elsewhere, far from where you live. Or close. You begin to see horrifying images of slaughtered or injured children, women, men, and animals in the newspapers, in magazines, or online.

What do you do?

Some have widened eyes. Others know about it, and actively participate in discussions. Some ignore it, pushing the burden of the situation onto everyone else.

Even less revolt. These are the ones remembered in history, the people that we read about in history textbooks. Abraham Lincoln pushed against slavery, Rosa Parks against black discrimination. Both of these people are well remembered, but, of course, with every rebel, there is a bystander.

A bystander.

How many times have those words been repeated in the last nine weeks? How many times have they been tagged onto a person, like others have done in the past? Those words have been tagged onto citizens, the poor and the rich, the smart and the dumb, the powerful and the weak.

Powerful, I mean, as in political leaders.

Political leaders are those who demonstrate, and are active in, party politics. As in, Democrats and Republicans, the House and the Senate, and all three branches of Congress.

So many political leaders – in so many countries, forget about just the United States – have ignored the cry for help from the victims of the messed up, who radicalize to the extreme. The victims call for help stranded in the middle of a place covered in dead bodies and lies.

In the area of genocide, who can you trust? Nobody there, nobody with you. Only those on the outside. Only those people have a chance of stopping it. Because, if you’re threatened with your life, you can’t stand up. Your life will most likely end. You have to sit, among the dead bodies and lies, and wait for somebody, something, to save you.

Or death could save you. Would you choose survival or death? It’s your choice, but I would prefer survival.

Survival is a political leader’s gift to the world. We, as United States citizens, democratically elect these people. We trust them with a huge responsibility- which is summed up in three words – Keep. Us. Alive.

Let’s not forget the poor genocide victims of the past. Or the undemocratically elected leaders.

Most of the genocides in history have been caused by a psychologically messed-up person rising to power. They hate a person or a group enough to kill them. If this group is large enough, or the circumstances are extreme enough, genocide begins.

Oh, the horror! This person begins to slaughter a large group of people via an army, camps, or some other equally horrifying method.

For example – Guatemala. A democratically elected government rose to power. They made land and labor camps. In 1954, the government was overthrown by the CIA, or the Central Intelligence Agency. They organized and funded a military invasion. The government was overthrown, but 42 years of horror and terror followed (“Justice for Genocide”).

The military organized by the CIA began to brutally slaughter everyone they saw (“Justice for Genocide”).

Er, not slaughter. Injure. Rape. Intoxicate. Any form of torture. And death, in addition to that (“Justice for Genocide”).

And after all of this, the war ended in 1996. 13 years ago! It caused poverty in a place of wealth and good fortune. And 200,000 were dead (“Justice for Genocide”).

Nobody did anything about it. Absolutely nobody.

If somebody, even a mere citizen, had stepped up, would the genocide have ended earlier than it did? If we were quicker to defenestrate the cause, the genocide might have lasted shorter, and ended longer ago.

Or would Guatemala be left to its own devices? Would have it been shunned and turned against?

Political leaders need to seriously step it up. Why are they not?

Are they just like us?

Middle schoolers, who we are now, are always fighting to be judged. Not judged badly, but judged and made a positive person to be with. Some kids fight to be judged.

Political leaders are the same way. They already are “popular”, as in, well-known, but, like every popular kid, they are fighting to stay on top. Catchy phrases help. If you do one “weird” thing, you are shunned for life. You are misjudged. You become prey, and some other lucky kid becomes predator.

In some ways, middle schoolers and political leaders are different. Middle schoolers are still being educated, and we make “little-kid” mistakes. Ones that we learn from. Political leaders can make “big-kid” mistakes, ones that the entire country learns from.

But when you’re in a highly acknowledged position, such as a political leader, you want to stay there. Just like a middle schooler would.

So, when we’re not middle schoolers, we’re going to have to make some choices. Who knows what they’ll be?

I ask you now; don’t be the one to turn your back. People out there might need you, and, frankly, you need them.