in the news
Every morning when I get up, I read the news. Lately, I’ve been looking for good places to get news on Africa, specifically Kenya. It is not easy. My home page is The New York Times- Africa. I am always amazed by the lack of new articles on this page. There is on average one article written by the Times related to the continent of Africa per day. Most of the articles are about political turmoil or war. Few are concerning education, disease, or death.Why is so hard to tell ourselves that people are dying? Why does that seem to escape the consciousness of the entire media on a regular basis, let alone the average citizen of America? Is it really that hard to see beyond ourselves?
Yesterday there were tornado clouds in and around Chicago. This, to me, was entirely unexpected. The tornado warning system of the city was quickly engaged and the sirens in our neighborhood began to wail. My whole family ran down into our basement. My sisters and brother all laid down on the bed and watched the television for updates.
Isn’t the media just like the tornado response system? And the way my family reacted to the sirens, isn’t it the same way that Americans respond to the media? The media warns of impending doom, making a disaster out of everything. They make sure the news gets to everyone so that the commercials arrive with it. The sirens go off and we run to protect ourselves, our wallets, our health, or our reputation.
I’m tired of the ignorance that this warning system media keeps us in. Not only do we not know the truth about what’s going on around the world, we’ve become obsessed with the fact that it might kill us, make us slightly uncomfortable, or –God forbid- fat.
So, let’s do this: Let’s seek the real truth. What’s happening to other people just like us on the other side of the world? They’re dying. What’s happening to people down the street? They’re dying too. This seems so dramatic, but I believe it’s true. I believe that our response should be to look beyond ourselves when we see these real disasters. We need to respond by an unprecedented giving of our resources, our time, ourselves. This is only way that we can truly understand the lives of the poor, sick, and destitute.
Interesting fact, I just learned how to spell dying correctly.
posted by Unknown @ 8:49 PM
<< Home