Salute

A Soldiers Poem

If I die in war zone
Box me up and send me home.
Put my medals on my chest,
Tell my mum I did my best.

Tell my dad not to bow,
He won't get tension from me now.
Tell my brother to study perfectly,
Keys of my bike will be his permanently.

Tell my sister not to be upset,

Her brother will not raise after sunset.

And tell my love not to cry,

Cause I'm a soldier and I was born to die.

Lest we forget

---

I found that poem on one of my friends Facebook, I'm not sure if they wrote it or whether they found it but I thought I should share it regardless.

Now I am completely against war, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the sacrifices made not just by the men and women but by their families and friends who get left behind also. Also the animals: we don't think of them but they die for us too.

For many, today was a day of mourning and in the eyes of an eight year old, who may not even know why we do this, is a day of remembrance. You can see the people holding back tears from their eyes as they place a poppy on a piece of stone. Only a few will ever know their true story and yet a country will become almost silent to say thank you.

I've always found it remarkable: whilst you are thinking for two minutes in silence, so is everyone around you and the majority of the country. Sharing the same thoughts.

Nobody is born to die. This day isn't about one war or even two - it isn't even about a war as far as I'm concerned. It's about sacrifice for someone else, to put yourself in the line of fire to save a person you don't even know.

So for that, I am eternally grateful.

Until the next time,

Kris

KONY 2012

This is frankly an emergency broadcast which I feel cannot wait until Saturday because for every second we wait another invisible child is silenced.

I am of course talking about the horrific events caused by Joseph Kony - the leader of the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) which is, lets be blunt, a terrorist organisation. He is wanted by the International Criminal Court and yet most the world don't know who he is. It is my hope and my dream as well as being the dream of millions of people.

Why do we wish that? He needs to be famous to be stopped, but one person could never do that?

"Who are you to end a war, but today I say who are you not to?" 

For many years to come human history will be blighted by events such as the holocaust or the Rwandan genocide and even though people knew it was going on - no one knew what we should do about it, but now we do.

The LRA kidnaps and abducts children, both male and female, in the night to force them to fight for a cause for which they do not believe. They are forced to mutilate other people including even their families.  We have to stop this, it is our duty, that is what we are meant to do. The video below is admittedly long and some people even claim that the video lies or tries to mislead you however it is my view that these interpretations are based on the assumptions of uneducated people without actual factual knowledge.

So recently I contacted my school regarding this issue and whether there is anything we can do to help which is the point where some people call me stupid or naive because I want to do something to stop this and that there's no point because one fourteen year old can't make a difference but it is my job today to tell you that I can and you can.

But what people forget is that the usage of the Internet in Europe since 2001 has grown by over 376.4% with over 2,267,233,742 people world using the Internet on December 31st 2011 and you can't say that is nothing.

We are at a major point in human history: will we let our mistakes repeat themselves once again - I won't, but what about you?

So today I ask and beg of you to pass on this message to your friends, to your family, to your school, to your colleges, to all you see. Share this post, this video.

Stand with me today, stand with me tomorrow, stand for those whose society has made invisible.

Kris Turner 

PS: For those who think that the LRA are no longer a threat I have two crucial pieces of evidence that prove you to be wrong.

1. The ICC still lists Joseph Kony as wanted. The International Criminal Court is the court that is responsible for bringing criminals of war to justice. (http://www.hrw.org/topic/international-justice/joseph-kony-lra)
2. You can track the attacks using the LRA Crisis Tracker which uses the EWRN (Early Warning Radio Network) (http://www.lracrisistracker.com)http://www.lracrisistracker.com/

Homophobia in Russia

If someone says bullying this is probably what you think of, but that's not what I am writing about today.

In Russia at the moment there is a big argument in Russia second biggest city - Saint Petersburg. This following story has been going on for a while now. The equality group AllOut has recently released this letter from a man called Sergie who has recently been arrested in the city.

My name is Sergey and I'm an attorney in Russia. I'm straight - happily married for 16 years - and until last week I would not have been called an "activist".   But in just five days I will got to court, fined and maybe even thrown in jail because I held up a banner in Saint Petersburg and told the truth: “A dear family friend is lesbian. My wife and I love and respect her … and her family is just as equal as ours." 

I was among the first to be arrested, but thousands more could follow.  As I write this, Russian officials are fast tracking a plan to extend Saint Petersburg's "gay propaganda" law to the entire country.
I believe that it should never be illegal to defend the dignity of friends and family. 

(Watch this video to the end, there is a purpose to it)

This law is trying to make speaking about lesbian, gay, bi and transgender (LGBT) illegal in the city.  Now that lawmakers in the Duma (the federal legislature) are debating a version of the law, this despicable law could go national - unless we fight it now. They are making words illegal. I personally have words to describe how messed up this law is but...

Did you know that 76 countries still criminalize being gay, 10 countries make being LGBT punishable by death or life imprisonment. But you can stop this, sign the petition at AllOut. Would you want someone to be silenced because you didn't speak up?

Kris

PS: Send this post to everyone, you don't have to be LGBT to stand up for what's right.
PSS: All the videos in this post can be found on my YouTube channel here.