What’s your genocide number?

Now that Syria is still fully intact, we are left to reflect on the meaning of the “line.” Whether it’s the NFL’s yellow first down line, the line in the sand or President Obama’s fabled “red” line, what are we to understand about the word “line?”

Last month, we learned that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad allegedly used sarin gas to murder over 1,400 of his people, including women and children. The pictures were horrific. Now we are learning that America, and other countries, lack the stomach to get involved. Some say we are weary from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I understand our unwillingness to involve ourselves in a conflict if one person loses his or her life, but when over 1,400 innocent lives are executed using a chemical weapon, I pause to wonder if it is time to flex our muscles. Now it dawns on me…we each have our own genocide number.

Perhaps you don’t agree with that statement. What if Hitler was reincarnated and on the warpath to exterminate a specific race, any race? Let’s say the death toll rivaled the estimated 5 million Jews, including women and children, who lost their lives during World War 2. Would we still lack the stomach as a nation to get involved?

You may say that I am comparing apples to oranges. Am I? So, what’s your genocide number?

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