Saturday, February 13, 2010
Ohmygod, that's horrible... bon appetit
I get it. 30+" of snow is *not* something everybody likes to experience...especially at the expense of losing electricity and heat. What are people in this predicament supposed to do for a weekend or -- if they're "really unlucky" -- a week of no internet and no warm, cozy homey feeling?
It bothers me to see all of those Pepco numbers and whatnot on the news, seeing how many thousands of people are without power. It bothers me *more* to know that there are people in the world who don't have those luxuries normally and it never shows up on the news. People here complain to no end about how they are missing this and needing that, and perhaps after a few phone calls, the repair truck drives up the block. In the midst of all of these hourly news reports, I think people need to take a step back and remember that they *have* a home, that they *have* the resources to be safe and comfortable year-round and save a blizzard or two that might jeopardize a few nights of email-checking or television-watching, they don't stop to appreciate what they *do* have.
The rest of the world is not as lucky to have every amenity at their disposal, and these kinds of events (whether large-scale like the earthquakes in Haiti or smaller-scale, like not having electricity (although, even then, those scales are all relative)) cannot continue to go unacknowledged. It makes me think of a chilling truth eloquently stated by Joaquin Phoenix in the 2004 movie Hotel Rwanda, which you can watch here (the whole clip is 46 seconds, though the message itself starts at about 30 seconds in).
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3 comments:
Great post ... and good movie clip (I had forgotten that Joaquin Phoenix was in that movie). ... Many of your posts have a similar theme. Maybe you should think about writing a magazine article (or something like that) on the subject.
A magazine article isn't a bad idea, although my feeling is that the importance of these themes is that they get conveyed routinely, so as to serve as a constant reminder that this is the way things are. Would a series of magazine articles achieve the same purpose? I'm not sure I could count on that...besides, easier to spread the word in my own forum!...as long as the readers read, anyway...
The question is where there will be more of an audience. And, of course, there's no reason to restrict yourself to one type of outlet. Maybe start with an Op-Ed?
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