Our country has not know war for many, many years. My generation, and my parents generation have never experienced the pain, suffering and deprivation of war. A number of years ago, when I was in highschool, I was staying at a friends house with a number of my classmates. I remember saying to my friends that I wish our country had a war. They were horrified at me, and no wonder. One who has not been through such a thing can only vaguely imagine what it would be like, often resulting in the glorification of such an event. Yet, in my statement, there was a deeper wish, it came out in those words, but those words did not truly give voice to that wish, the true longing of, "I wish our country would unite."
I just watched a video about Joseph Kony, a notorious warlord in Uganda who has been terrorising it's people and neighbouring countries for 26 years. Some people decided to do something and it made me think of that statement I made many years ago. I'm beginning to wonder if our country is in fact already in a war, always has been, and always will be. A war for justice, for meaning, for hope. Yet, in our country, for now, we get to choose if we will join. Apathy holds a tight reign over us and has for decades. Our isolation from other countries lulls us into believing nothing can harm us and as long as we don't rock the boat, we will be forever safe on our little island at the bottom of the world. I for one want to fight. I want to stand up, on very shaky legs, and leap over board into the unknown world; I want to do something, as it is not in the boat that I will grow, it is out there, in the unknown, that I will learn how to live. And it is often only through fighting for something that life reveals how truly precious it is.
