Thursday, March 24, 2005
The Big Heart of Little Miss Attila
I was wrong about something....
Sometime in early February I came across a weblog called 'Little Miss Attila'. It's quite an impressive blog, and the custom graphics and unfettered dedication to my exiled homeland (California) really peaked my interest. One of the first posts of hers that I read was about the efforts of Jane at Armies of Liberation to free an imprisoned journalist, Al-Khaiwani, from a Yemeni prison. He was jailed for doing what we all take for granted... Criticizing his government.
In her blog, Little Miss Attila was calling on all of her readers to help Jane by signing a petition to free Al-Khaiwani. My first thought on this was, 'Wow, someone's actually going to help this guy sitting in some prison in the middle of nowhere... Cool.' Sadly though, my second thought was, 'This will never work, so why even try.' Every subsequent post on Attila's website got the same reaction... utter pessimism on my part.
I was wrong.
To make a long story short, I caught an online article yesterday stating that Al-Khaiwani was freed by President Saleh of Yemen. Of course I first thought of Attila's blog, and her constant reminder of Jane's attempts at getting this man freed. My second thought.... what have I become?
At what point over these last few years did I go from someone who was proactive and optimistic to my present state of perpetual pessimism? Am I just too lazy to care about anyone other than myself now? Am I so self-absorbed that I'm more concerned with reading the comic section of my local paper rather than spend 2 minutes signing an online petition that just may work?
While I begin this process of reassessing myself and what's important to me, I would like to apologize to Little Miss Attila, Jane, and last but not least, Al-Khaiwani... for turning my head and ignoring what was right.
Yes, I'm just one little blip in the blogosphere, but so was Al-Khaiwani, yet through the efforts of many other small blips (online journalists), those small blips made a difference.
Congratulations for proving this pessimist wrong. I hope Al-Khaiwani can find the freedom to continue his fight for truth.
I hope I can find it in myself as well.
posted by El Capitan at 9:43 AM
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