I'm sitting inside my house surrounded by a quiet suburb, listening to Modest Mouse, surfing the web on my personal laptop. Behind me there are boxes from the move we made this weekend, from a 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom house to a 3 bedroom house where I have to share the only bathroom with my brother and mom. I'm the best at complaining, even though I know how lucky I am. I sit here with everything I could ever need, yet I am unsatisfied, unhappy. My mother and brother have disappeared. I'm alone on my computer in my new house.
Lately I have been exposed to different cultures. I did a project about the recent war in Kenya, where tribal rivalries have turned innocent people into victims of war. I watched a movie in English about Afghanistan and read "The Kite Runner." (Which I HIGHLY recommend by the way.) I learned a lot about the Taliban and the character of Muslim people. I even learned more about America's culture- shocking facts about consumerism and the media and what it's effects are. I have developed a love for knowledge, learning, and the endless opportunity that is the future.
My friends now know me as the, "radical philanthropist", the good-do-er. The one who's probably too honest and caring for my own good. My recent discovery and fasination with the plight of humanity has caused me to shape into a new person. I'd like to say that I've emerged, somewhat, from the bubble that is my white suburb and given a thought or two about other people. Strangers. Kids across the world. Anyone suffering. Now I feel that being privledged, I have a duty to serve the underprivledged, until the world is a much safer place.
But to my peers, and even close friends, I am way too idealistic. Just last week, I heard a guy I know say, "To be honest, I don't give a shit about the people in Darfur." Immediatly, I questioned his viewpoint, but only to be challenged by another one of my friends, a girl who took his side. She said that since she doesn't know the people there personally, she doesn't really care what happens to them. Later that day, the same girl and I discussed it again with my boyfriend, who saw things my way but happened to take her side. I tried to explain that we cannot let suffering take place. Kate, the girl arguing with me, said that if a guy and a girl you didn't know were fighting, you wouldn't run in and get involved. You would just walk right on by. I rebuttled by saying, "Sure. But if a mother and father were fighting, and in anger caused harm to their child, you wouldn't just let the child fight for itself. You would save it. In the same way the people of this world need saving." I was so discouraged because here, two of my best friends, were yelling at me in opposition to my cause. I didn't understand how people could react that way when a person only wanted to help others. The negative responce I got from them was baffeling.
The point of all this is that, alot of people in this world DON'T feel that its there place to help. But I realized that I couldn't let them stop me from caring about the world. If everyone thought the same way they did, there would be no one to fight all of the corruption in the world. Everyone would just stay consumed in their own lives, in their bubbles, ignoring humanity's call for help. I used to be like them, and to some extent I still am, but i know one thing for sure. The rest of my life I will be dedicated to helping someone other than myself. Whether its the lonely little boy in my neighborhood with no friends, or the women of Afghanistan, they're not alone as long as I'm around.
So please, exit your bubble now. Step into the world around you and do for others what you would like done for you. Join the cause to protect human lives. That's all I have to ask.
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