Perhaps for obvious reasons, it seems that I become much more attuned to global issues when I go abroad. It happened when I was in Beijing for two months last summer, and it's happening again in Santiago, though in a more latent form since I don't have hours of mandatory conversation every day here. I've started to spend a lot of time on Google News and NY Times, reading stories about North Korea, the Air France crash, the Gunn High suicides, H1N1 flu, the Tian'anmen cover up, GM's bankruptcy, and other current events.
It's pretty depressing. In today's world, there is an overwhelming infatuation with money, success, appearances, and instant gratification, and while none of these are inherently bad, they leave little room for love, patience, and mutual understanding. Are we as a society really progressing when we're more concerned with the features of the new iPhone than we are with two American journalists being sentenced to twelve years of hard labor in a modern-day concentration camp? Is a celebrity's sexuality really that important? If a tragedy in another country, or even another state, doesn't affect us in any way, does that give us the right to completely disregard it?
(I think the answers are nope, nope, and nope.)
I have no point to make, no grand conclusion to draw from my observations. I'm an optimist, and while both religion and personal experience tell me that human beings as individuals are imperfect, I'll be the first to report when a news story restores a part of my faith in humanity.
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On a lighter and less spontaneous note, I'm gratifyingly but not unexpectedly starting to understand the nuances of living in Santiago. I find happiness in little things like figuring out that I have to pull on the front gate while turning the key, being able to get to a destination by subway without looking at a map, getting a feel for prices without converting to dollars, and successfully ordering lunch without having to ask the waiter to repeat himself. Cooking at home is also becoming easier, though I can't say that our meals are as healthy as they should be. All in all, life is pretty good.
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ReplyDeletei meant to say
ReplyDeletei think people's ignorance/lack of action comes from their inability to handle/process the tragedies of the world. i mean, sure they're desensitized by the things that they see in the media, but once they really think about it, people have the same depressed reactions in realizing a. how jaded society is and b. how much there is to care about. and everyone can't be depressed all the time - unless it was in an idealistic world in which depressed people = enthusiastic, motivated people who took action against the tragedies that depress them. but we live in a world where people aren't that smart/motivated. so is it better to keep them happy with trivial things and shock them just enough to make them feel like being philanthropic/generous?
i say 'they' but sometimes i can't handle everything either. it's overwhelming at times and i retreat to britney music and forget the world on my piano.
i still have faith that mankind is good. i think.
eat healthy.