STOPPED

I cheer as we drive by a telephone pole plastered with KONY 2012 posters. My kids wonder why I am cheering and I tell them,"There is a very sick man who captures children in Africa and makes them go to war. The posters I just saw were put up last night by people who want him to stop. They want the government to know it's not okay. Children should be taken care of. Mommy put up posters last night too."
Ben smiled a very fulfilled looking smile. "Thank you Mom."

"Mom, I can get the bad guy, " Bronson declared. "I can."

"That's great Bronson. That's the point of these posters, if one of us does something, and then one more...we can stop him."

"I can stop him because I am good at fighting," he added with gusto. A three year old. What imagination.
I am inspired by how brave and confident he is. He can stop him.

It occured to me then, that a lot of people at one point, that week that the KONY video was circulated, A LOT of people believed we could stop him. We were all inspired. We were passionate, ready to take action, and sharing with everyone. April 20 seemed so far away to wait to take action. We wanted him stopped now! 100 million people around the world saw and shared the video. The most viral video ever.

Then the news hit of the founder of Invisible Children having a breakdown, running naked in the streets. It was devastating to the movement. It was devastating to me. There was an unspoken embarrassment for so fervently promoting anything related to a man who can't keep his clothes on. People found all kinds of reasons to make him bad, immoral and wrong. I even debated heatedly with a Facebook friend. It deeply disturbed me how wrong this person made Jason Russell and how it all seemed a cop out for actually participating in causing a global movement. I was sad for days. Not just for the children, but for humanity.

I got today that the great disappointment many of us felt, the betrayal of the founder action's, the fizzling of the movement, was actually a breakdown in our commitment to have leaders with integrity.
What we want, as a people, is leaders with integrity. That is great. That is inspiring! That is a good thing to be committed to. Sometimes there will be breakdowns. President's will have affairs, congressman will lie, activists will get drunk and act out. So what?

The question is, will that stop US from taking action on the areas of our society that we are committed to?
What I realized, last night as I went out with posters in hand, by myself, was that I wasn't promoting Jason Russell. I was taking a stand for children.
Children being cared for, fed and safe is a commitment that is universal. No matter what you think about Invisible Children, what KONY is doing is worth doing something about stopping him. Every single person in the world that heard about KONY, deep inside, wanted to do something last night.
Some did. Some didn't. Some were stopped. So what?

Whatever you did, and it doesn't have to be putting up posters, how can you expressed what you are committed to?
How can you let the government know that children deserve, no matter where they are born, to be cared for?


Zen Honeycutt