Today is April 19th. A day that will always mean something to me. A day that a terrorist decided to take the lives of hundreds of people, but through intervention of God (or fate if that is what you believe), only 168 people lost their lives. Tragic enough – until you realize that many were babies and a lot of peoples bodies were strewn so badly that only a small portion was left to do DNA tests on. It is the day the Murray Building in Oklahoma City was bombed.

I had worked in that building up to 10 years before – my desk was in the middle of the 7th floor – the shock of seeing the building was horrific. I had lost track of many of my friends who worked there. Through the few I still had contact with, I found only 5 of them still worked there – and none of them where in the building at that time.

The nail that drove through my heart hurt worse because the people who did this were United States Citizens with roots in this country. This bomber said he was standing up for human rights because of the Waco disaster. Taking innocent lives for revenge?? I don’t think that is a fight for human rights.

On May 15th is ‘Bloggers Unite for Human Rights’. Many bloggers will be writing about the various aspects of human rights. One blogger is setting up a list of blogs to be published. She will a list of many participating blogs May 14 with story titles mythoughts-ssb.blogspot.com and proofpositivity.blogspot.com.

Be sure to participate in this event – either by blogging or by reading the numerous posts. In the meantime – here are some organizations that fight for human rights every day of the year:

• Amnesty International (http://www.amnesty.org/) is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights for all. They work to improve human rights through campaigning and international solidarity.
• Human Right Watch (http://www.hrw.org/) is dedicated to protecting human rights of people around the world. They stand with victims and activists to prevent discrimination, uphold political freedom, protect people from inhumane conduct in wartime, and to bring offenders to justice.
• Youth For Human Rights (http://www.youthforhumanrights.org) is an independent non-profit that educates people about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights so they become valuable advocates for tolerance and peace.