Two recent events have my head swimming. Could you help me out here?
First Event
More than 200 girls in Nigeria were kidnapped from their boarding school and while some have escaped, none have been rescued.
I turned to a blog for news because the amount of information about this horrifying event is so slim. Here's a link to what I read:
Why Girls in Nigeria Should Matter
Second Event
I also listened to a very young, very passionate young man speak about the need for action to preserve the very meaning of humanhood.
I thanked him for his passion, the fact that he had the courage as a man to speak to this topic, even as some women attempt to shut men out of the conversation.
What conversation do both of these things answer to? The conversation that asks this question, "Whose lives matter?"
The Call to Action
The blogger concludes that because the girls are in Nigeria, their lives don't matter to us here. That may be true. Africa is very far from us, unimaginable to some. But if I were the African-based enemy, I would take comfort in the fact that Ukraine is closer and we do nothing there. I might even be emboldened.
I love the blog about girls in Nigeria: tons of information, and passionate. But I also dislike it.
It asks for us to do the noble thing and hashtag #bringourgirlsback. That's important, because in our day hashtagging the issue will achieve something. But honestly? Hashtagging is no sword, and a sword is what these bad guys understand. There needs to be a next step.
The reality of our smartcountry is that this hashtag is step number one: digital action before physical action. Once there are enough hashtags to garner a government's interest, I wonder if our very efficient special forces could go in and solve the problem.
But I don't want to limit responsibility to the government. Americans can do more than hashtag, can't they? I love that some are being emboldened to rescue prostitutes from their prisons (see Undercover Work Dismantling Brothels) and I wish men could come together and solve this horrifying case as well.
The enemy knows these smart ladies have the potential to change Nigeria. That's why they are being held captive.
Yet they need to be set free: by chivalry in the first meaning of the word.
The Twist
The blog I cited above ended with a cool line: "Girls matter. Everywhere." It's true, and I'll rehash it in her tone: Girls matter, "even" in Africa.
The young man I wrote about earlier was Josh Duggar. After his talk, I told him I appreciated his staying in the fight for girls' rights, women's rights. Folks, he does that for American women. He is fighting for all American women's lives to be valued.
Judging by the effort he and his organization have put into this fight, I would say it is a struggle for Americans to value its own women.
And so I offer up perhaps we don't understand the value of life elsewhere because we are still struggling to value its worth at home.
Because girls matter. Everywhere. Even the womb.
First Event
More than 200 girls in Nigeria were kidnapped from their boarding school and while some have escaped, none have been rescued.
I turned to a blog for news because the amount of information about this horrifying event is so slim. Here's a link to what I read:
Why Girls in Nigeria Should Matter
Second Event
I also listened to a very young, very passionate young man speak about the need for action to preserve the very meaning of humanhood.
I thanked him for his passion, the fact that he had the courage as a man to speak to this topic, even as some women attempt to shut men out of the conversation.
What conversation do both of these things answer to? The conversation that asks this question, "Whose lives matter?"
The Call to Action
The blogger concludes that because the girls are in Nigeria, their lives don't matter to us here. That may be true. Africa is very far from us, unimaginable to some. But if I were the African-based enemy, I would take comfort in the fact that Ukraine is closer and we do nothing there. I might even be emboldened.
I love the blog about girls in Nigeria: tons of information, and passionate. But I also dislike it.
It asks for us to do the noble thing and hashtag #bringourgirlsback. That's important, because in our day hashtagging the issue will achieve something. But honestly? Hashtagging is no sword, and a sword is what these bad guys understand. There needs to be a next step.
The reality of our smartcountry is that this hashtag is step number one: digital action before physical action. Once there are enough hashtags to garner a government's interest, I wonder if our very efficient special forces could go in and solve the problem.
But I don't want to limit responsibility to the government. Americans can do more than hashtag, can't they? I love that some are being emboldened to rescue prostitutes from their prisons (see Undercover Work Dismantling Brothels) and I wish men could come together and solve this horrifying case as well.
The enemy knows these smart ladies have the potential to change Nigeria. That's why they are being held captive.
Yet they need to be set free: by chivalry in the first meaning of the word.
The Twist
The blog I cited above ended with a cool line: "Girls matter. Everywhere." It's true, and I'll rehash it in her tone: Girls matter, "even" in Africa.
The young man I wrote about earlier was Josh Duggar. After his talk, I told him I appreciated his staying in the fight for girls' rights, women's rights. Folks, he does that for American women. He is fighting for all American women's lives to be valued.
Judging by the effort he and his organization have put into this fight, I would say it is a struggle for Americans to value its own women.
And so I offer up perhaps we don't understand the value of life elsewhere because we are still struggling to value its worth at home.
Because girls matter. Everywhere. Even the womb.
Poignant. I think you are correct that we are still struggling with the value of women collectively, but I think maybe we have to value women individually first.
ReplyDelete