What about the not so invisible children?

During my morning commute on Wednesday I was bombarded with tweets and facebook status updates imploring me to do my part and “Stop Kony”. Before my last class of the day I had been informed by several people that the man was a notorious warlord who had committed unspeakable acts. And by the time I made my way home no one on any of my social networks was discussing anything else. Those who were usually exclusively concerned with the hottest place to attend “thirsty Thursdays” were suddenly overnight philanthropists so moved by a thirty minute youtube video that they beseeched others to donate funds and take action. Setting aside the fact that half of the people tweeting and preaching about this cause, like myself, had never heard of Kony prior to Wednesday and therefore could not have done an adequate amount of research to justify supporting this cause the overwhelming cries of Americans to stop this purported injustice disturbed me for another reason.  Those more than willing to jump on the bandwagon of the “Stop Kony” efforts are often reluctant to get involved in the travesties occurring in their own communities. When a teenage boy was killed on a playground in Roselle, New Jersey the collective reaction of the adults in the community was lackluster. There was little outrage and even less call to action. And when another teenage boy was robbed and brutally murdered a little over a month later on Orange Ave. in Irvington there was more of the same. Because of the lack of emotionally manipulative commercials and viral videos the violence that takes place here at home is often shadowed by the tragedies of other nations. Everyone is quick to shake their heads at the misguided youth killing each other but no one is moved enough to act. We shouldn’t need a trending topic or a viral link to remind us of what's going on right here in the tri-county area. The echoing of gunshots on the streets of Irvington and Roselle should suffice. I'm not by any means trying to downplay the plight of the "invisible children". I'm simply pleading with anyone reading this to display the same passion they have for children they will more than likely never have the opportunity to meet for those in their community. Do something about gun violence. Contact your legislators and place some pressure on them to keep guns out of the hands of our youth. After all action comes in many forms not just a retweet and a $30 donation.