Honduras
Lately I've been thinking about Honduras a lot. For those who dont know, first of all, Honduras is in Central America...south of Mexico, north of Costa Rica :) Secondly, that's where my dad's from and I lived for 10 years.It's also where I learned a lot about the world...I did most of my growing up there so I learned about friendships, about betrayals, about beliefs, about about the differences between social classes.
I don't know if it's the fact that my mom works in development or that I grew up seeing poverty all around me, but it's a touchy subject with me. I've seen what it's like first-hand, and I've seen how much regular people can help. But I meet a lot of people who don't agree with me...who think that charities dont help, who think that their money is not going to the causes it's supposed to, who think that poor people are just lazy, or they are poor by choice. And it's something really hard for me to listen to because I've seen people starving, people barefoot and in rags selling newspapers at traffic lights, people with nothing yet they smile like they have everything. And then I think about how I haven't even seen the worst places in the world. And I dont understand how people could not want to help.
I suppose I need to realize that not everyone's seen what I've seen...and maybe poverty really is something you need to see to understand. Sometimes I'm really critical when I see 'poverty' in developed countries, like here in Ireland, because to a certain degree it is by choice. Here there are places you can go to sleep if you are homeless, places to get fed, there is social welfare that far too many people depend on.....and maybe because of all that people assume that the rest of the world is the same. I dont know.
It just gets me mad that people dont understand...but I guess that's not fair because there are a lot of things I dont know about...but it just drives me crazy when you try to talk to people and they dont listen, they are stuck in their stupid arguments and they just wont stop for a second and at least try to see a problem from another point of view. So maybe I'll just stop. It's not because I have been defeated, it's not because they are right...maybe some people you just cant talk to.
So if people dont want to listen does that mean you should stay quiet?
posted by Oreo @ 11:29 PM
6 Comments:
No. You should definitely not be quiet. If you are quiet, who's going to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves? Most people are ignorant (in the most literal sense of the word) to the world around them. They choose not to look what's going on in the world around them. They choose not to pay attention to all those who are suffering. And in my opinion it is because they realize that they are part of the problem. That it is their lifestyle that is causing these problems all over the world. And who wants to feel guilty about themselves, their lives, the actions they take? We don't see the effect that our choices make on those who are affected. We don't see the 7,8,9 year old children working 14 hours a day for 25 cents - so that we can wear the latest style of clothing.
Now, I say this, totally recognizing the fact that I do engage in some of these behaviours. I find it hard to stop myself sometimes. But I am also trying to make my life - the bigger picture - about helping those people who can't help themselves. Who else is going to?
And you are totally correct - people don't pay attention to these things because they never see it happening. Sure we see homeless people every day on the street. But do we see emaciated children with so little energy left that they can't even wipe the flies away from their faces? No. We're too busy wondering if Nick and Jessica are going to break up. Or what Tom Cruise buys for the mother of his child. It lets us forget about what's really happening in the world.
Okay, now I'm just ranting. I'll stop. But no, you shouldn't stay quiet. If enough people say enough things lound enough - people will eventually have to listen? Right?
no, never be quiet.
fight for what you believe, let your voice be heard.
don't let ppl discourage you!!!!
and i know what you mean, i grew up in honduras too, with poverty all around me, even with friends who could not buy a shirt they liked because that meant great sacrifices to their family budget.
i grew up surrounded by it, knowing how to be thankful that i had a family that although we are not wealthy, we have enough to have food on our table, clothes on our body, and even pay to go to the gym to lose some weight we have put on by eating too much.
it's sad that people are ignorant, and that they try to help by not helping.
i personally believe in charity, and that giving to a good cause will pay off.
don't think too much about it oreo.
First of all, i would like to apologize for letting things get out of hand on my blog. Sometimes my passion for arguing gets in the way of my compassion. I choose not to ignore my own hypocrisy and realize that despite my best intentions, i still haven't dedicated my whole life to solving injustice. We need all kinds of people to solve this problem. People who will donate money, people who are willing to donate their time, people who are willing to put an end to the developed world's stranglehold on the third world's arable land. It's not easy for all of us to find out which one of these roles would be the most helpful to mankind as a whole. I just wish you wouldn't make so many assumptions about the "people" who don't understand.
The assumptions I'm making about people who 'dont understand' come from my experience with them....I know everyone's different, everyone has different reasons for their beliefs and different priorities in life...and I'm just generalizing people into hugely ambiguous 'those who care' and 'those who dont' categories...
but my whole point is I dont understand how people--for whatever many reasons they might have--dont care.
It's so much easier not to care. Or to only care about yourself. In the Western world, we're lazy. The less people to care about the better. I also personally believe there is a race issue behind it too. The feeling that I get from most of the west is, "who cares about a bunch of dead or dying black (or non-white) people."
I saw it when I looked at the U.S and their response to Hurricane Katrina. I heard so many people talking about how poor the response was, and how, if it had happened in a 'white' state - not nearly as many people would have died.
Also, I think we have to remember that we are in a very very privelaged situation here. We were born into this. We got lucky. What would be saying if we were born with HIV/AIDS in a civil-war torn nation with no infrastructure, no stable working government?
George Bush tells his americans he wants to spread 'democracy' and 'freedom' and 'liberty.' Why the fuck isn't he in Africa? How much freedom does a person have if they're going to die before the age of 10 because AIDS?
Oh, wait, Africa doesn't have oil - and Americans(and the west) love their oil.
< S >
I'm glad everyone's got something to say about this...
Anonymous I totally agree, the reason Africa is forgotten is because they dont have anything to strongly benefit Western nations...
JW I agree with you that some people dont have a frame of reference to care, and seeing things on tv is very different from experiencing them first hand. But in my life I've met some people who really just dont care at all, who have the whole 'out of sight out of mind' point of view. Or like how anonymous pointed out, some people don't feel as compassionate to people who are of another race, culture, religion, background....
But then again, complaining about what other people aren't doing isn't going to help any.....people will always disagree...so I'll just get on with it...
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