Fatalism

The Baltimore Sun has yet another article blaming residents of contaminated areas of Belarus for their own health problems. This article sites last fall's U.N. study underestimating the number of victims of the Chernobyl accident. According to The Sun, residents of Belarus have given up on their health and environment.

The United Nations has begun projects designed to encourage economic development of the affected areas. These projects include classes in beekeeping, a new sheep farm and helping residents to plant flower beds and build greenhouses. The coordinator of this effort, Zoya I. Trafimchik says that "If we continue to treat them like victims, they feel like victims."

I am stunned by the heartlessness of this new movement. Basically, the Belarussian government and the U.N. are telling these people whose lives were complete devastated that they should stop feeling sorry for themselves. Dear Ms. Yushenko, if your two children are dying of cancer and you're coughing up blood on a daily basis, maybe you should quit your whining and it will all go away. What?! They are victims. They deserve help. And sympathy. This sort of abandonment and lack of responsibility from the government is shameful. Sure, the people should want to improve their lives, but a little bit of sympathy and understanding from the people who ruined them isn't too much to ask for.