A Tibetan woman arrested at a peaceful vigil in the Himalayas; where is the outrage against the CCP's continued crimes against humanity?
When we hear on the news or read in the newspaper about protests going on in different countries, we always say how horrible it is and that it's good that they stand up for themselves.
We feel for them, we hold our own slogans in the street stating that people need to be freed from the government. However, it's not the same because no one in the street will attack you for holding up a sign. In other countries like Tibet, even letting out a cry of your opinion will give you a beating from the local police. No one really knows what it's like to be part of the mob of desperate people trying to get their voices heard. I felt for those people, but I never gave it a serious thought about how painful it could be physically and emotionally in the moment. But in recent events, I started to get a sense of how it's like. A few weekends ago, we heard the news that a hypnotist will be coming on Saturday. Everyone was excited and people wanted to be up on the stage with their school mates to get hypnotized. I was a little nervous about it because I didn't want to do something embarrassing. I was with some friends and we got there fairly early enough because we knew it was going to be a big crowd. When we arrived, a good amount of people were waiting outside the closed doors of the theatre, but after a few minutes, a crowd of people showed up. It was a long wait and as more people came together, the room became stuffy and humid. People were fanning themselves and complaining about how long it was taking to open the doors.
By the time the doors opened, it was already fifteen minutes past the time they were supposed to let us in. People immediately burst into an outburst of excitement as they streamed into the narrow doors. Although there was more than enough seats for the people that showed up for the event, everyone was rushing to grab the seats with the best view. My friends and I held hands as we tried to snake our way through the crowd and squeeze through the doors. It wasn't as easy as I imagined it to be. There were a lot of bigger, taller people who are as feisty as the people who are small. It was hard to see my friends, but I was being pushed around roughly between people. I felt my feet getting stomped on repeatedly as people tried to rush by. One of my biggest pet peeve is when I'm in a crowd and someone bumps into me, so in that situation I got furious pretty quickly. I was shoving people back and elbowing them to give myself some room. A few minutes of agitated shoves, my friends and I finally managed to get through the entrance. It wasn't an easy entrance though. With people pouring in, I got shoved into the edge of the door and got a nasty scratch from that. After the show, I saw that my friends got some nasty bruises themselves, but we all agreed that it was worth it.
We said that our injuries were worth for the show, but I realized that there are people across the world who are facing more than just an excited crowd. My school mates rushed through the hallway and buzzed with so much excitement, the teachers had to try to control the crowd by calling people out. Across the nations, people who cross the line get beaten and arrested by the police. Our emotions for that event is nothing compared to the agony of people being controlled by their government system. My friends and I complained about our bruises for the next couple of days, but those people who get shot and beaten by batons don't whine about it like we did over a couple of scratches. That incident was probably the worst I've had, and I couldn't imagine the pain and suffering people are going through. Although it was not one of my favorite moments, that experience opened my eyes to see the huge amount of agony Tibetans in their home country are going through. I might never experience the riots going on, and I still might not understand the amount of pain there are emotionally and physically, but I'm hoping that people who don't understand what Tibetans are going through, will someday and will try to take a step in spreading the news.
Since the illegal invasion and consequent conquest of the once free nation of Tibet by the communist Chinese state, well over 1.2 million Tibetans have been brutally killed. Tibetan religion, language and culture were nearly destroyed and nearly 7,000 religious monasteries have been leveled.
Where is the outrage and where is the justice? Is it mass hypnosis that keeps us from taking action and reaching out with love and compassion and take a stand or is the world simply just asleep?
In the wake of so much suffering and brutality, one can only shutter to think what it will take to finally wake up...
