Fighting for Human Rights is a Community
- Fighting for those who have no voice, like the woman and children of Darfur and Iraq creates a community because the people involved have a common goal and work together for the good of others. A community is defined as “things that hold people together (Latterell 85)” and working together for such an important cause definitely holds people together. This community is held together by its strong sense of injustice being committed against helpless innocent women and children unable to speak for themselves.
- The interest and values of the people within this community are very similar. They believe that all human beings have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, not just rich, white Americans. They have a strong sense of duty to help their fellow man in any way they can, whether it is financially, physically, or just writing letters to Congressman and White House Officials regarding the atrocities being committed against these women and children. The needs of the people within this community are ultimately the needs of the women and children they are trying to help. If a little girl in Iraq needs a wheelchair because our military has blown off her legs then the community’s need is to find a way to raise money to purchase a wheelchair. If No More Victims is bringing a child to America for extensive medical treatment they could not receive in Iraq then the needs of the community become those of that child, finding ways to get that child the means to get well enough to travel, a local community willing to host the child and their family a hospital willing to help that child at little or no cost.
The tensions and differences that work against the cohesion of this community are primarily caused by differences of opinion in the best means to help a specific child; however, the differences in this community are far outweighed by the genuine care for the children and rarely create problems within the community.
I fit into this community by writing letters to as many government representatives, Congressman, the President, etc. for Physicians for Human Rights, No More Victims and other organizations like these. I wish I could be more active in supporting these organizations, which all belong to the same community, but my own disabilities make it impossible. The primary reason why I belong to this community is that I feel it is one of the most important communities on the planet at this point. As Cole Miller, founder of No More Victims says, “How is it after we have hurt this child, we do not help this child?” How can we turn our back as genocides continue to occur and pretend that the bombs we are dropping on Iraq are not killing or injuring anyone but militia?
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