Kony 2012

Many of you have probably heard by now of Invisible Children's Kony 2012 campaign, and unfortunately of the criticisms that it's now receiving. Jason Russell, who created the Kony 2012 video that has garnered an astonishing 67 million views in the past week, was interviewed by Ann Curry on the Today show this morning. Curry adressed two of the bigger criticisms of the film: that Kony is out of Uganda now and currently has only 200 "followers" (aka abducted child slaves). Russell replied, "If 200 children were abducted from San Diego or New York City, and forced to kill their parents or become sex slaves, would we not take immediate action?" The fact that Konys current "army" may be smaller now, and that he may be somewhere else in Africa doesn't excuse him from the horrible and evil atrocities he has committed, and it also doesn't mean that he will not begin to rebuild his army all over again if he is not caught. A child's life is a child's life, and regardless of where they live or what they've been through, they matter. No child should have to live in fear of being abducted and forced to murder their family or be raped, or even worse-no child should believe that they would be better off dead because of their fear of those things. The sooner Joseph Kony is caught, the more children can be saved from these evils.

Here is the Kony 2012 video. It is worth 30 minutes of your time, trust me.

Click here to visit Invisible Children's Kony 2012 website, and click on the Critiques tab in the top right corner to view their responses to some of the other criticisms made about this effort.

I hope to live in a country, and in a world, that is rudely awakened and deeply disturbed by the injustices before us, and I pray that we as a people can put aside our differences and exercise the courage, grace, and compassion to stand by and support those who are making bold and valiant efforts in leading us towards peace. If we truly desire a better world to raise our children in, we must lay aside our differences and trade our criticisms in for love and our apathy for benevolence. 

Please join me, and the over 67 million others, who are fighting for this cause.