Well I have started that dreaded dissertation and although I only have an outline at the moment, it feels all that more possible and achievable. I am making connections all over the 'academic' community finding folks who are doing PhD's and other amazing research on such topics regarding Sierra Leone. For those of you who don't know the topic of my dissertation its: Reintegration of Child Combatants: Sierra Leone. Yeah a real 'light' subject. But interesting so that is good. After a brief meeting with my advisor tomorrow I will hit the ground running on the actual writing of such an essay.
This then brings me to my next topic of discussion: Governmental Leadership. As I have been reading and researching I have been doing a lot of reading on the topic of political reasons children are used to fight such bloody wars. And it all comes down to Political Leadership. Yes Sierra Leone is a 3rd world country, but so is Iraq. And Iraq is still using children to fight. Yeah we are training their military, but have any of us asked the question: What age are these soldiers? We forget as "progressive 1st world" civilians that our standards are not universal (Hence the War) but there has been a universal convention outlining universal rights of children, and that states that a child in any nation is younger than 18. That means that yes even in the good ol' US of A that we too use children to fight our battles.
It just makes me sad that a parent can give permission for their 17 year old child to fight for their country...sheesh when I was 17 I made some pretty silly mistakes. I am glad that I didn't take such a severe risk such as risking my life. Yes that is me and I am not saying my views are correct, but what government in their right mind would let a 17 year old defend their country when in some areas they aren't even allowed to drive a car. And it is worse in 3rd world nations, children as young as 10 are fighting. It breaks my heart, and I hope that eventually we can realize that it is our responsibility as citizens of a nation to make sure or attempt to make sure that our views are heard, not just those views of those we have elected to represent us on Capitol Hill.
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2 comments:
Hey girl-
So, I finally got to read your blog!!!! Thanks for the fabulous things you said about our wedding. Honestly, it would not have happened without all your help. Now when I talk to people who are planning their weddings, it is a standard question of mine to find out if they're lucky enough to have, what you coined, a "wedding bitch." I thought of you more as my angel of salvation in those weeks leading up to the big day. One of my fave memories is you and I in Wal-Mart at 10:30 at night, buying random "wedding emergency kit" things. So much fun!
The reason I actually decided to post a comment is that, in reading your profile, I noticed this: Words Written 10,713. You have almost written the length of your dissertation, on your blog! I don't know if that helps or hurts, but it seemed like an interesting fact to me!
Talk to you soon.
Love-
Hill
Yes...I have almost written an dissertation on this thing...but that was since last January...But really this is me we're talking about. 15,000 words should be easy!!
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