Happy Humpday Haiku #61

#TooMuchDeathAndHateHasMeWonderingWhereAreAllTheRoleModels?

Hashtags and wristbands

Won't undo the injustice

Of our forefathers.

            I turned eleven years old two weeks before September 11th. Looking back on my life pre-plane crash, I can't remember news reports about violence and murder. Granted, I had my own internal battles to fight, as my childhood was not a happy one. But for some reason the news never felt real to me until my brother and I saw a plane fly into the first tower as we're eating breakfast before school. I was oblivious to gravity of what had happened. I still couldn't understand when we were released early from school that day, and when my Hebrew school lesson was cancelled. Not a clue in the world. 

            How many people would die as a result? In the immediate collapse, two thousand six hundred and six. Another nearly seven hundred when you account for the people on the planes, the people from foreign nations, and the people on the ground during the attacks who didn't make it. As of 2011, an additional two thousand nine hundred an ninety nine have died due to illness related to the attacks on that day. 

            What about the wars that were started as a result. How many died? How many injured? Fifty seven thousand six hundred and fourteen. What about in Afghanistan and Iraq? Estimates range from one hundred and fifty one thousand to one million and thirty three thousand. At least one hundred and thirty two thousand of those killed in Afghanistan and Iraq were civilians. 

            This is not to say to the actions taken were not justified. That's for a different discussion at a different time. This is just to note how immense the situation was, and how as an eleven year old eating Kix for breakfast, how it was lost on me. I imagine it was around this time that I became more aware of reporting on violence and race relations. Even in the last year and a half, six thousand miles from home, I am continuously reminded of the inherently violent and hateful world we live in. Since moving there have been three deadly plane crashes (Malaysian Airlines which disappeared in open water, AirAsia which disappeared in the Java sea, and recently the German Wings flight were the copilot deliberately crashed into the side of a mountain, killing everyone on board), a ferry carrying more than three hundred people sunk after the captain abandoned the ship, we have seen people slaughtered by ISIS and Boko Haram. A Kenyan university was attacked by Somali militants, leaving one hundred and forty seven dead. Migrant from Libya to Italy threw twelve passengers overboard. 

            And then there's home. The States. Michael Brown and Eric Garner and Tamir Rice and Cameron Tillman. Rafael Ramos and Charles Kondek. Black and White. Child and Adult. Police and Civilian.

            People will die. However people need not be slaughtered needlessly without dignity, without fear. I contemplate these numbers, and I'm curious, where are the people that said this was okay? Who are they? What kinds of behaviors are they permitting by enacting them within their own power? How do we justify these things in a way that allows the younger generation to make sense of them? How do we make sure that they don't make the same mistakes? If there was a time to be the change you want to see in the world, it's now, because nobody is providing you with a suitable model to follow.