Kony 2012

Terrible events are currently impacting our world. There is a massacre engulfing Syria where a brutal dictator has been killing his own people. There are Americans who are drowning in debt and financial hardship that they can't feed their own children. At the end of the 2011 fiscal year, our gross debt was $14.8 trillion or about 99 percent of our economy. Our total liabilities and unfunded obligations totaled $65.5 trillion.

Each week as I rant about apathy here at Lyndon, I may sound like a broken record, but I believe that young people can mold the future of our country. Last week, we saw proof of this as a campaign entitled Kony 2012 launched its efforts to expose the evil of the world's most wanted man. Joseph Kony is the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda that has killed, mutilated and raped thousands of civilians. As of last night there were over 40 million views on a viral YouTube video aimed at uniting tens of thousands of college students on opposition to Kony and his butchery.

Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets are exploding with activity about people in support of ending the tyrant's control over more than 30,000 children who Kony has turned into soldiers. This man forces kidnapped children, between the ages of 6 and 15, to kill their own parents and continue on deadly rampages as loyal followers of his movement.

Joseph Kony is a terrible man who must be stopped and punished for his crimes. Social media has empowered our generation to make dramatic changes to the world we live in. You are making a tremendous first step in sharing and liking content but the honest truth is that most of our representatives are in their sixties and seventies and really don't know how to access social media. It's time to get the attention of our elected officials. Write letters to your representatives. Stand up and tell your elected officials the direction you want your country to travel. March on Washington, do whatever it takes and, above all, stop being complacent.

You must do more to achieve the real results that you want, and our world needs you to do more. Our generation does not have to be polarized by partisan politics. We can work together to get the job done not only for Vermont and the United Sates of America, but also for the entire world. It is time to come together and not only embrace the Kony 2012 movement, but also the other problems that are currently facing our world. Get out of your comfort zone and take a stand because if you don't I'm afraid that we will be remembered as a complacent, lazy generation. 

Each day as I advocate involvement in local government, I continually feel like I am fighting one hell of an uphill battle. This week though, students took the first step to fighting apathy and I think that we can take this to become more socially and politically active. All right, let me explain I want to thank every student who has liked or shared this video, because you have taken the first step to defeat apathy and stand up or human rights. Regardless of if you agree with the legitimacy of the organization sponsoring the video. However, at the end of the day you must do more and in fact; YOU CAN! One example is the battles that carry on each and every year in our own Student Government Association. Over the course of the last four years that I've been somewhat involved in the SGA there have been fairly brutal fights but at the end of the day, we respect one another. I mean, Justin Chenette and I have never gotten along (except that one time) but I am excited that he is taking a great step in running for state legislature  in the state of Maine. We need more community leaders and students to take charge.