In both the nation of Rwanda and the region of Darfur, there have been numerous killings and all-around misery. What is the instinctive response to such merciless places of death? Immediate and compassionate vengeance against the hellish and inhumane forces which have sadly come to rest within these careworn areas. Yet, does any type of action stemming from the recognition of our fellow man’s welfare ever prevail? Let us turn around and take a clear look at the past.
Has any preceding American involvement in the Middle East succeeded? This topic is obviously highly debatable, although it might be said that we went into that region not out of concern for those in need, but to solidify our control of a certain unnamed resource. We move along to Somalia, where a United States-led stabilizing mission attempted but ultimately failed to put an end to the deathly chaos which had erupted there. The United States should indeed use this experience whenever deciding to intervene further in African affairs — the main point being, if we do make the decision to enter with military force into an African country where genocide is occurring, are we truly going there for our fellow man’s sake, or is our prime instigator a concern about trivial possible economic dilemmas that might plague our country in the future?
Of course, American intervention may also turn out wildly wrong — our mission may turn out to be a disaster similar to Somalia, and more innocent lives may be caught in the great destructive whirlwinds of the ill-fated human desires of greed, power and status, which are all in turn initiated by one highly valued human desire: security!
Everyone wants to feel secure. But if one is highly insecure and the circumstances around them provide no other alternative, then the only way they will feel secure is if those who contribute to their insecurity are destroyed. Then, since the source of their insecurity has been vanquished, they (the genocide-instigators) may feel safe. They are so caught up in not feeling afraid that they fail to realize that it is their own fault they are scared, not those around them. They must ask themselves why they are afraid, and deal with their insecurity accordingly and methodically. However, due to their uncivil living conditions and their lack of modern-day standards of living, they are brought up into a deathly world in which they are taught how to live and survive with the limitations of an animal’s mind — attacking and defending themselves from those that are causing them to feel cornered.
In both cases, I believe very strongly in American involvement. The first and foremost solution is to firmly assist those people responsible for the genocides in realizing that their well-being is not actually being confronted, and that safety is indeed visible. However, those people might perhaps be so far entrapped in this savage mindset that military destructive force must initially be used. One way or another, African citizens who are scared and cornered need to see that they are, in fact, not; within this new world today there are opportunities to live without killing your fellow man. This world is not based on savagery, treachery and murder, but on rational thought, clear vision and an enlightenment which is potentially everlasting.