For most of my life when I saw the Red Cross symbol, I thought of romantic, black and white World War Two movies where nurses with dark pasts cleaned, sewed, and bandaged the wounds of handsome soldiers, injured in defense of their country.
The Red Cross is so much more than that.
This movement stands for helping people around the word who are in need. They provide medical care, but they also work with disaster relief, displaced indivduals, and even work to gather lists of prisoners of war, to tell their families of their situation. They work for the benefit of human rights around the world.
Article one of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood." This is the attitude the Red Cross is trying to promote-where people behave well towards and take care of one another.
The first exhibit in the Red Cross museum features five different statements from different countries, different faiths, and in different languages all concerning the importance of caring for one another. Whether Christian, Cunfucius, or Islamic, the idea is still valid; that those who can ought to take care of those who cannot. This is a belief I heartily believe in. There are so many people in the world who are suffering, but there are also many people in the world living in excess. If only the great scale of justice could be tipped back into the proper balance, perhaps a great deal of the pain in the world could be eliminated. But alas, in every portrait I have seen, Justice is always blindfolded.
I did not expect to so completely enjoy the Red Cross museum, but I found it rather inspirational. Yet again, my comrades were forced to drag me away from the plaques and displays so we could go eat lunch. It is kind of them to so consistently wait for me. I do try to hurry along, but I do not want to waste the oppurtunity I have in front of me.
Lunch was a picnic in the park by Lake Geneva. When the food was all gone we continued to sit and relax on the lush grass. Unfortunately the grass was crawling with bugs. I was constantly flicking little black beetles and lightening quick ants off of my knees. Many song birds gathered around, but instead of eating the bugs they just, danced and hopped near our food. Kayla was determined to shoo them away, but I fed them snacks instead. It made me think of my Grandpa Kent, who has several bird feeders and a bird bath in his backyard. When I was a kid and they asked me what kind of animal I wanted to be, I would say I wanted to be a bird. Then, I could fly around the world and see all the wonderful things there are to see before flitting to Grandma and Grandpa's and living in their delightful back yard.
I was not feeling too well after lunch, but I was determined to make the trek from the park back to the Red Cross museum, which just so happened to be across the street from United Nations, Geneva. Yep, I toured the United Nations. Nope, it was not nearly as thorough of a tour as I would have liked. A cheerful blonde women, working on her Masters, led us from room to room. My favorite place was the largest conference room in the building. This place had spots for 2,000 countries! In each conference room, she pointed out where the press were allowed to sit. Several new reporters sit there on such a regular basis that they have offices in the building. As we strode down the halls, my imagination flicked between two futures. The first involved me sitting on a bench in the hallway, putting the finishing touches on an article about an arms treaty. Deadline was rushing to meet me, and I had no time to return to my office. I might also stride through the halls of the United Nations in a business suit, ready to give a presentation on the next hot topic of human rights. One young girl, out to save the world. I could see it happening.
Perhaps the most interesting, least known fact about the UN-they have three peacocks in their garden.
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