It’s easy to feel that everyone is a separate entity and forget they can be affected by the actions and behaviors of others. If one ignores the plight of women in Afghanistan, he or she is inattentive to a subject that affects all.

That subject has arisen when slavery bound black people in chains. It rose it’s ugly head when Jews were gassed in pretend shower chambers. It still crawls across the land when innocent people are slaughtered by evil dictators and it exists in the treatment of woman in Afghanistan.

The subject in question is that of lack of freedom, of degradation and enslavement where people are treated as objects rather than as intelligent, feeling beings with rights and views of their own.

Woman have fought for their rights in the western world and have come a long way. But they have not come far enough if people are willing to let bad treatment of women, or anyone, happen in another country by making themselves believe that it has nothing to do with them.

By ignoring the plight of women in Afghanistan, people are unconsciously complying with those who treat them badly. They send a silent message to the women that they do not matter. By agreeing that someone doesn’t matter you may be inadvertently agreeing with their treatment and so become part of it.

While it’s probably true that some women in Afghanistan don’t feel abused or restrained, and are so used to the way they’re treated that they consider it to be normal, this doesn’t mean that it’s okay for the rest of civilization to sit back on their laurels and allow future generations of females born into their country to grow up without understanding their rights as human beings.

Many women who do feel subject to sexism and poor treatment respond by setting themselves on fire. They want to die since they don’t know how to live under such bad conditions. The way they are treated is a symptom of the unrest and degradation in Afghanistan. A country which allows a huge part of its population to be battered under foot is dangerous to everyone, not only its inhabitants.

Instead of seeing the plight of women in Afghanistan as a problem one doesn’t need to deal with, you need to recognise the bigger picture. Not only shouldn’t people ignore the conditions such women have to live in, but one also needs to understand that they are looking at human beings, rather than another race of people, or even a particular gender. If everyone chooses to ignore them, humanity is lost.