Recently I had another great conversation. Over a coffee in a small cafe, my friend and I talked about what we always seem to gravitate to when we get together – world need, refugees, the Darfur catastrophe, unwanted children…. Then my friend asked me a question: ‘How come it’s ok for rape to be used as a tool of war?’ How would you answer that? I had just been reading articles sent through from another very close friend, who was in the finishing stages of completing her Honours thesis on cross border aid and the R2P (Right to protect) protocol. Several of the articles I actually could not read beyond the first several paragraphs. The testimonies of women who had survived war and ethnic cleansing – from Bosnia to Afghanistan to Sudan – but who had suffered the terror and humiliation of rape – were too sickeningly graphic and I began to feel sick reading them. In every case, these women and young girls had been raped and mutilated by militia forces. Somewhere in the worldview and cultural practice of these men, it was ‘ok’ to do this. In the context of conflict it was acceptable to deliberately, as a tool of war, destroy a woman’s body,dignity and life.

‘How come it’s ok?’, my friend asked me. And then other issues began prompting the same question. How come it’s ok for human beings in 2009 to be bought and sold as slaves? Hadn’t we dealt with that some years back?? And how come it’s ok, in 2009, for children to be working 16 hours a day in cigarette  and brick making factories so their families can eat? And how come it’s ok for the rest of us to be shocked and horrified for a few moments…. and then leave it to someone else to speak out about it and do something to make a difference – somewhere, somehow for someone?

We wouldn’t say it of course, and we don’t consciously think it, but by our indifference we are saying, ‘It’s ok’. Or we may be saying, ‘Don’t Tell Me’ – as someone back in  Australia said to me when I started sharing with him about similar issues. At least this person was upfront in his reaction though. Many people I have met have shouted at me ‘Don’t Tell Me’ without ever opening their mouths.

As we finished our coffee, I said to my friend, ‘That’s a great opening line for a song.’

I’d like to share the song that was birthed some weeks later from that conversation.

how come it’s ok

for us to turn away

shrug our shoulders cause it’s just another TIA

how come it’s ok

for us to hope that things will change one day

then turn the channel in our heads cause pain’s passe

and the rivers run red across Sudan

the sky’s raining lead in Afghanistan

how come it’s ok

for girls and boys to not know how to play

cause they’re smashing rocks on roadsides all day

how come it’s ok

for people to be bought and sold as slaves

and hey, what can I do anyway

and the rivers run red across Sudan

the sky’s raining lead in Afghanistan

boys in Uganda are terrified tonight

they’re sleeping in a train stop so they don’t have to fight

women beg for mercy in the burning sun

there are ways of waging war without wielding a gun

people are labeled and somehow we agree

they’ve all done something wrong

cause they’ve got HIV

how come it’s ok

for rape to be a tool of war

in this enlightened day

how come it’s ok

for us to save a tree

but turn our hearts on 40 million refugees

and the rivers run red across Sudan

the sky’s raining lead in Afghanistan

boys in Uganda are terrified tonight

they’re sleeping in a train stop so they don’t have to fight

women beg for mercy in the burning sun

there are ways of waging war without wielding a gun

people are labeled and somehow we agree

they’ve all done something wrong

cause they’ve got HIV

how come it’s ok

how come it’s alright

for us to turn away

push people out of sight

how come it’s ok

to be horrified

for a moment and

so believe we’ve tried

how come it’s ok

when we’re all at war

to destroy a woman’s body for the cause we’re fighting for

and the rivers run red across Sudan

the sky’s raining lead in Afghanistan

people are labeled and somehow we agree

they’ve all done something wrong

cause they’ve got HIV

how come it’s ok

for billions to be outcast

cause they’re trapped by what indifference doesn’t say