Obscurity

I have recently been reading "Hole in the Flag" by Andrei Codrescu. The book is an analysis and commentary on the Romanian Revolution of 1989. As I have begun to read this book it has become painfully obvious to me how oblivious I am to the world. Toward the end of 1989 in Romania a revolt started in a town called Timisoara, this revolt continued to gain steam and spread across the country slowly gaining support. When it reached Bucharest a few days later the revolt escalated into a bloody revolution. Military men opened fire on crowds, the holes made from these bullets can still be seen in the walls of the University of Bucharest.
Romania is a small eastern European country and of little consequence to Americans. In the book Codrescu explains that at the same time that Romania was in its revolution the U.S. had begun its occupation of Panama, the attention was off of Romania, the only country to dispel communism with the shedding of blood, and onto Panama. The secretary of state at the time, James Baker was asked whether or not the United States would be opposed to soviet intervention in Romania, he replied that they would not. In an era of cold war the U.S. turned their head at an opportunity to gain a stronghold of democracy in Eastern Europe and to help peel away the scourge of communism but they instead turned their heads. The whole incident reminded me of Rwanda and the negligence of the west.
I know that as I continue through life I will be struck with instance after instance of negligence on our part and each time it will be a difficult pill to swallow. I suppose my view of progress is a world where we are not motivated by compensation or benefits in order to act but rather act because we know it is right. It is never easy to take a stand but it makes us stronger as we do so.