A Step in the Right Direction, Again

Back in high school, I worked in a grocery store that I was eventually fired from – twice. Working in that store was an elder employee who was set in her ways. Canvas bags were the hot thing at the time, and she was annoyed with the new fad.

"These people will never be satisfied," she said. These people? Who were these people?Activists? Tree huggers? Soccer moms? Or people like me? People that think the next step in any society should be logical and directed towards the benefit of all people?

If she did mean people like me then she is correct: we will never be satisfied.    

With that anecdote in mind, President Obama ordered the deployment of "100 armed military advisors" to central Africa. These advisors are to assist and combat the forces of the Lord's Resistance Army. This order went out on October 14, 2011.

Now, don't get me wrong, as a human rights activist it is difficult for me to come to terms with the killing of another human being. But here are some of the facts: Joseph Kony, a self proclaimed prophet, and his followers have killed, raped, mutilated, abducted children, and terrorized people in more than four countries over nearly two decades.

If you knew this and had the power to end it wouldn't you?

In 2008 military officials were sent into Uganda to help local forces fight back this threat. It was essentially the same plan as the newly deployed one, but now they have guns to play with.

Then in May of 2010 Obama signed the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act, to help in defending against the LRA. This signing was partly in thanks to the work of Invisible Children, a grass roots activist group. 

Elizabeth Tillar, a soft-spoken professor in the Philosophy/History department, had this to say about Kony: "His reign of terror is one of the worst human rights atrocities in the contemporary world."

"Human right advocates have commended the decision. But the attendant risk to American personnel and the cost of yet another U.S. operation are unwelcome prospects, and criticism will surely be justifiably strong in some quarters despite the humanitarian dimension of the mission," Tillar said.

One question that has always plagued my thoughts is: can an execution be justified? Is there really such thing as a just killing?

This is something that most people will never have to think about. Many of the people affected by the LRA are in a culture of kill or be killed. We, however, live in a culture of such passivism that the question never arises unless you're in a philosophy class.

Americans come first in America. I respect this notion, even if I do not entirely agree with it. Although I would like to informally thank Obama (I thank him formally enough through Amnesty letters). In spite of all that has happened during his presidency he still finds time for those in the direst of circumstances. So, thanks Barack. 

Remember that old woman I hated working with, back at the beginning of this column? I stopped off at that store the other day. And she was still there packing groceries. I just smiled as I walked by her. Still not satisfied.