Thought for the Day

Many years ago, I sat in a room facing three professors who would spend the hour asking me questions about twenty works of literature including The Red and the Black by Stendhal. One of the questions the French instructor asked me was: What was the symbolism of Julian Sorel’s beloved carrying his severed head in her lap? I thought this was a strange question. She was obviously very sad that he was dead and that was all that was left of him. To which the professor replied, “You don’t think that people actually went around carrying peoples’ heads in their laps - even in that era?” Which brings me to the point of people’s inability to accept that savagery knows no borders and no expiration date. (Perhaps you have read in the news about the seemingly well adjusted French couple living in Seoul, Korea? The wife according to French reports was found to have put at least two of her newborn babies in the freezer).
The reason I’m bringing up this subject is child sacrifice. Reports of child sacrifice are coming out of Uganda and Kenya. According to some news reports, these kidnappings of kids are occurring in villages where local ‘bush doctors’ are suggesting that child sacrifice will solve problems ranging from impotency to ‘getting richer than your neighbors’.
For some reason, the European and Western reaction to these reports are incredulity. Likewise, I would be incredulous if it were suggested that a neighbor was freezing his or her newly born babies.
This is a timely subject. When you remember that the reason for the the Christ family’s exodus was propulsed by King Herod’s decree that the first born male of all families should be murdered.
Is there anything new under the sun? And is anyplace in the world, including Paris, free from the savagery of the human psyche? Here is more info about a constructive response to child sacrifice as it appeared in a letter to French News which I posted back in July 2006:
Charity of the Month
The alarming practice of child sacrifice in rural areas of Uganda and Kenya is very much a reality. The practice which includes kidnapping of innocent victims and removal of private parts is the supposed ‘prescription’ given by bogus bush doctors to solve a litany of ailments ranging from marital problems to gaining advantage over business rivals.
Busoga International Rural Development (BIRD) director Robert Musiitwa believes that theatre can stop the killing. Theater is the popular traditional means of communication and Musiitwa proposes a 45-minute play SADDAK (Sacrifice) for which he and members of BIRD will conduct 100 performances. He also intends to set up workshops for 200 traditional healers lasting 3 days with the goal of sensitizing them to this violation of human life.
Musiitwa and many of BIRD’s members are graduates of Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. Already a familiar television personality, Robert Musiitwa is an accomplished playwright and humanitarian. He and other family members have adopted a number of children orphaned by the conflict along Uganda’s border with Sudan.
The expenses for the entire project of bringing theater to the villages is estimated at $36, 184 U.S. Dollars or approximately 30,000 Euros.
If you are interested in reading the play SADDAKA or reading the project plan, you can contact Robert Musiitwa at:
busogabird@yahoo.co.uk
or musrob@hotmail.com
Telephone: (256) 0772 475762

By Parisgirl | Permalink

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