John Paang, staff writer
The ongoing civil war causes about nine million people to lose their homes as well as hundreds of thousands of lives. For years now, there has been a conflict that many people have heard about it because it has been shown all over the news as well as any other media. This has to do with the Civil War in Syria.
Starting back in 2011 President Bashar al-Assad, was once again elected into office however, the citizens in Syria did not agree to this and in turn they protested his presidency and the government responded in kind by using military force to crush the opposition.
Some might ask, why is this being shown all over the news, why is this such a problem? First, a question that we, as fellow humans have to ask ourselves is; Why should we care about something like this when we live in America The problem lies in our very being, we are humans, through and through, and we crave peace yet we create conflict. In an attempt to better ourselves and society, some of us have adopted the idea of “Democracy.”
Our ideas of freedom and democracy have been shaped throughout time, even mine and there has been constant arguing about this subject, yet none know more about it than the 200,000 dead Syrians and the nine million Syrian refugees who have been affected by their own Civil War, caused by opposing sides.
There are citizens who support Bashar al-Assad as president and those who oppose him. Some believe that he is a tyrant while others fear for their lives and support him. While the Civil War is among the most prominent among these problems of Syria, it is not the only one.
Ask yourself this: What happens when there is chaos and a government only has part of the power? This chaos leads to human rights violations. Many of them have been committed: murder, torture, rape, kidnappings, chemical weapons being used and many others. More than 3 million people have fled Syria since the conflict and have yet to find a new home.
Writer and poet, Maya Angelou once said, “I think we all have empathy, we just lack the courage to show it.” In this case, that quote is very true. We hear of humanitarian conflicts in the news, social media among other things. But why? Why do we hear of these things that have nothing to do with our lives? What does it have to do with our teachers or our neighbors? The fault with us humans is that, well, we are human.
While we all have emotions we also think differently and clash with our opinions. Look throughout history and you can clearly see this. The assassination of Martin Luther King, The rise of Hitler, the Holocaust. There are so many examples of humanity and how we never fail to cause conflict and force our ideals onto another “group” of people.
It is wrong, the killing, people being forced out of their homes, and conflict itself. No one can speak for the dead people. No one can speak for the 9 million or more refugees, but we can try and better ourselves and understand them so there is a chance of this not happening again.
The ongoing civil war causes about nine million people to lose their homes as well as hundreds of thousands of lives. For years now, there has been a conflict that many people have heard about it because it has been shown all over the news as well as any other media. This has to do with the Civil War in Syria.
Starting back in 2011 President Bashar al-Assad, was once again elected into office however, the citizens in Syria did not agree to this and in turn they protested his presidency and the government responded in kind by using military force to crush the opposition.
Some might ask, why is this being shown all over the news, why is this such a problem? First, a question that we, as fellow humans have to ask ourselves is; Why should we care about something like this when we live in America The problem lies in our very being, we are humans, through and through, and we crave peace yet we create conflict. In an attempt to better ourselves and society, some of us have adopted the idea of “Democracy.”
Our ideas of freedom and democracy have been shaped throughout time, even mine and there has been constant arguing about this subject, yet none know more about it than the 200,000 dead Syrians and the nine million Syrian refugees who have been affected by their own Civil War, caused by opposing sides.
There are citizens who support Bashar al-Assad as president and those who oppose him. Some believe that he is a tyrant while others fear for their lives and support him. While the Civil War is among the most prominent among these problems of Syria, it is not the only one.
Ask yourself this: What happens when there is chaos and a government only has part of the power? This chaos leads to human rights violations. Many of them have been committed: murder, torture, rape, kidnappings, chemical weapons being used and many others. More than 3 million people have fled Syria since the conflict and have yet to find a new home.
Writer and poet, Maya Angelou once said, “I think we all have empathy, we just lack the courage to show it.” In this case, that quote is very true. We hear of humanitarian conflicts in the news, social media among other things. But why? Why do we hear of these things that have nothing to do with our lives? What does it have to do with our teachers or our neighbors? The fault with us humans is that, well, we are human.
While we all have emotions we also think differently and clash with our opinions. Look throughout history and you can clearly see this. The assassination of Martin Luther King, The rise of Hitler, the Holocaust. There are so many examples of humanity and how we never fail to cause conflict and force our ideals onto another “group” of people.
It is wrong, the killing, people being forced out of their homes, and conflict itself. No one can speak for the dead people. No one can speak for the 9 million or more refugees, but we can try and better ourselves and understand them so there is a chance of this not happening again.