You may have seen Yahoo's current 'Time Capsule' project by Jonathan Harris. If not, now's the time to head over there: you have until 11:59 p.m. PT on November 8, 2006 to contribute, and to see what is already there.
One of the themes for contributions is "Hope". What are your hopes for the time between now and when the capsule will be re-opened in 2020?
The UK's international development secretary, Hilary Benn, may or may not have expressed it via the Time Capsule, but he has called for a ban on the use of cluster bombs, which I think is a worthy hope.
In addition to the sites I linked to in my September post, there is a Cluster Munition Coalition, whose site has country-specific links to contacts through whom you can take action.
Here's a link to a related case-study which illustrates one of the more repugnant aspects of cluster munition use: in the Jaffna peninsula of Sri Lanka between 2000 and 2002, 50% of the victims of 'ERWs' (Explosive Remnants of War) were children. Often they were going about daily tasks such as collecting firewood. Sometimes they were intentionally seeking out discarded weaponry because its scrap metal value makes it an economically attractive resource to salvage, despite the risk.
With Remembrance Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year and other commemorations all approaching on the calendar, there are plenty of opportunities for us to both reflect on these issues and, more important, act on our reflections by volunteering, making a donation or even just writing to a policy-maker. Think of it as an investment in hope.
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