Reading Response and Awareness: Gabrielle

     The speech that meant the most to me was Aung San Suu Kyi's speech that was done by her son. This speech stuck out to me the most because I think the situation is very different; she is on house arrest so her son did her acceptance speech. I really like this speech because instead of her son being angry that his mother is on house arrest, he states peaceful remarks and signs of hope. Not just a quote, but a paragraph really stuck out to me, "Firstly, I know that she would begin by saying that accepts the Nobel Peace Prize not in her name but in the name of all the people in Burma. She would say that this prize belongs not to her but all those men, women and children who, even as I speak, continue to sacrifice their well being, their freedom and their lives in pursuit of a democratic Burma. Theirs is the prize and theirs will be the eventual victory in Burma's long struggle for peace, freedom and democracy". I really love this paragraph because it shows that Aung San Suu Kyi really does want equality for everyone, as well as peace throughout Burma. I also think this paragraph was a very strong one to start the speech with, and with it it shows passion. Today Aung San Suu Kyi holds a spot in parliament and is working towards pro-democracy.
     A country right now that I am very concerned about is Venezuela. Right now there are riots going on because Venezuelans are going against the government and their current president. They are tired of economic problems and they want to have protected freedom of speech. The riots in Venezuela brought global attention on February 12, 2014 when three people were killed. Right now, over 40 people have been killed and hundreds of people have been injured due to the tear gas and the outbreak of riots. The police have been using tear gas,water cannons, smoke canisters, and some violence to try and control the situation. My hope for this situation is that is quickly ends. It is an unfair situation for the citizens and people are being injured and even killed. The situation is out of control. The U.S. cares about this situation because many Venezuelan officials are blaming the U.S. to trying to destabilize their government. Obama made a comment on the situation stating, "Venezuela, rather than trying to distract from its own failings by making up false accusations against diplomats from the United States, the government out to focus on addressing the legitimate grievances of the Venezuelan people" (http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/20/world/americas/venezuela-qa/). We should all care about this situation because we want world peace, we want harmony between countries and citizens, we want this to be a better place. Violence should never be a solution and right now that is was Venezuela is using as their situation.