I want to say right off the bat that I’m not encouraging you to watch this video. It’s extremely hard to watch and think about the things Sunitha Krishnan talks about in this video. I have heard many of these things before, and while it is of course still painful to watch, it no longer sends me into the days long head between my legs rocking back and forth shock I was in after the first time I heard about similar things on NPR.
But I want to make two points. One is that the audience in this video applauds at a point in the middle of her talk, and again at the end. While of course, it is polite, both applause breaks are inappropriate. The appropriate response to witnessing this talk is complete and utter silence. She talks about how badly people treat the victims of abuse, they don’t want to be around them, but these victims need support and they need to be able to live a better life. She makes a great point, instead of guarding yourself by facing the fact that you can’t solve these issues (which you alone certainly cannot), think of the one thing, the one small thing you can do to help. Just one small thing.
Finally, when I was watching this, I couldn’t help thinking about Michael Vick. Here is a man that we know abused animals horribly for his own sick enjoyment. In many ways the dynamics are the same as the even more horrible crimes described in this video. And yet, stadiums full of people are now cheering for him when he plays football. What is wrong with us? Michael Vick brutally tortured and killed dogs, and most of us seem to be okay with that. How can that be?
We are so uncomfortable thinking about atrocities that we would rather pretend they don’t exist. Sex slavery exists, and it’s horrible. Dog fighting exists, and it’s horrible. Don’t watch this video, I understand why you wouldn’t want to. But please, try to find it in yourself to stop pretending these things aren’t happening or they aren’t horrible. Then the next step, as Sunitha says, is to try to find just one very small thing you can do about it.