Last night I had the privilege of seeing and hearing Mia Farrow speak about the genocidal situation in Darfur. She was speaking at the Sheraton Hotel, in NYC, to an audience of approximately 1000 people attending a conference given by Omega Institute, titled Being Fearless. Her speech left each and everyone of us feeling horrified, shameful, angry, devastated, but most importantly inspired. Inspired to do something about this unfathomable systematic destruction of a people. With her powerful and masterful communication skills, passion, courage (she has gone back to the region 8 times and is going back next month) and incredulous rage, she besieged us to remain present to the torturous reality experienced by the people of Darfur, and take responsibility for their suffering. The title of her talk, "With knowledge Comes Responsibility," speaks to the role we play when we remain silent and inactive while hundreds of thousands are brutally raped, murdered and displaced.

Most of us know that there is a genocide going on in Darfur. We know it in our heads, but not really know it in our hearts and souls. If we truly knew what is going on, we would not be able to go on with our lives as usual. The level of barbarism is hard to describe and even harder to accept. Our minds cannot wrap themselves around humanity's capacity to inflict such unspeakable suffering on its brothers and sisters. Yet, it is our imperative, our directive, to educate ourselves on this issue, since unlike Nazi Germany, where many people said they were not aware; today, we are all aware that something horrible is going on in Darfur. We may wish to excuse ourselves by not seeking to know the level of cruelty and savageness that is being perpetrated on these people, but that will not absolve us from the responsibility that if we remain silent we are complicit.

For five years these people have been viciously attacked by their Government simply because they are non-Arabs. Their villages have been burned to the ground; men, women and children are being raped and slaughtered, often in front of their family members; the ones that were able to escape are living under the most grotesque inhuman conditions with little or no food, medicine or protection from ongoing attacks; the few peacekeeping forces and other aids are continually being killed, rendering the situation more dangerous and dire.

While the U.N. and the U.S.A. have agreed that a genocide is going on, almost nothing is being done to stop these atrocities. What ever happened to "Never Again?" How could we, with any consciousness, sit by and allow this inhumanity to go on? You may wonder "What can I do, I am only one person?" There is so much you can do to help. You can go to miafarrow.org where you can educate yourself about the issue and get ideas on what you can do.

Also, you can speak to everyone you know and ask them to go to her site for further information. If enough of us are moved to action, we can make a difference and demonstrate our resolve to "Never Again."

Our humanity is at stake.