It’s amazing how a country can feel so good about themselves and so intensively support the relief effort to clean up Hurricane Katrina. and then one month later, 30,000 people die in a nameless, unknown, dirt poor place somewhere in another part of the world, and not a word is mentioned about them. there is no benefit concert, no celebrity outreach, no famous rapper to say that the government hates south asians, and no little icon to click on your favorite website. i can’t understand it.
i’m not saying that one tragedy is more severe than another, that one life is more valued than another. and im sure my views will be disagreed upon by someone, somewhere. but one has to admit that the katrina fervor that followed that tragedy, and the silence that followed the pakistani hurricane are astounding. some people don’t even know that an earthquake hit. when katrina hit, it was the front page of cnn.com for at least 2 weeks straight. this earthquake was on for the weekend, and replaced soon thereafter, when more fashionable news was found.
how can it be that in such a short amount of time, after such a huge outpouring of support and aid, this country can say, ‘ok now back to ordinary life again.’ its as if the whole giving and relief process quickly became played out.
the late response to the people of new orleans and now with the south asian earthquake, we are shown that the poor of this world are invisible. especially to those in the first world. to this country, our own poverty is invisible to the point where they can be ignored or turned away from. but even moreso, the poor of the third world don’t even exist. theyre just words on paper.
here is a link to places to donate: Quake Aid
even if you don’t work or you’re “broke”, you could fast the next mcdonalds meal and send $5 there. every little bit helps. learn to donate while you’re young; early and often.
cfc is yfc is gk. and gk is less for self, more for others, enough for all