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Tag(s): Atrocities; Genocide
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November 19, 2006 at 08:33:20

Where The Children No Longer Dance

by Jan Baumgartner Page 2 of 2 page(s)

www.opednews.com

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Did the children of Darfur stop dancing when they lost hope? Or did they lose hope when they could no longer dance?

One of the slogans used to define this genocide in Darfur is, "how will history judge us?" Perhaps we should not focus so much on history and how we will collectively be judged, but rather, what we can do today. The children of Darfur are not looking to history for answers. They are surviving for the day - they cannot fathom a moment beyond. Let us focus on "how will I judge myself tomorrow?" And, make a difference today.

Tonight, my niece Shauna celebrates her twelfth birthday. She is having a slumber party. Her sister, Jessica, will be there too. I have no doubts that they will dance. With friends in tow, they will shut the bedroom door and with music blasting in perfect harmony to shrieks of laughter and joy, they will dance. They will dance to celebrate life. And whether or not they can articulate in words why they are so joyous - why their healthy, vibrant limbs are compelled to move - they will dance to hope. Because they are thankful. Because they have.

Because they can.

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A native Californian, Jan Baumgartner is a freelance writer currently living in Maine. Her background includes scriptwriting, comedy writing for the Northern California Emmy Awards, and travel writing for The New York Times. She has worked as a grant writer for the non-profit sector in the fields of academia, AIDS, and wildlife conservation and anti-poaching for NGO's in the U.S. and Africa. Her articles and essays have appeared in numerous online and print publications in the U.S. and internationally, including the NYT, Bangor Daily News, SCOOP New Zealand, Wolf Moon Journal, Media for Freedom Nepal, and Banderas News in Mexico. She's finishing a memoir about her husband's death from ALS and how travels in Africa became one of her greatest sources of inspiration and hope. She is a Managing Editor for OpEdNews.