By Jordan Forrester
Any David who stands in the face of his personal Golitah and says, “No more!” deserves the utmost respect. The proverbial story of the golden underdog fuels most people’s desire to be that David; to fight tyranny and oppression and make a difference. Most of us feel that need to be respected and to make our small world a better place through our endeavors. The epic good versus evil story touches us internally and leaves everlasting marks.
However, these battles are constantly taking place all over the world 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You can’t fight them all. You can’t feel them all. Hell, you can’t even know them all. So, how do you decide what’s important enough to elicit a response from you?
You don’t have to do it. The media does it for you.
The world is full of the downtrodden, the unwilling cogs who make the global political machine’s wheels turn. Everyone has a fight. Everyone. Whether you know it or not, there are battles lines drawn from the Sudan to South America to South Central, LA and everywhere in between. Presently, the possible changing of the political regime in Iran due to the lofty aspirations of its youth is on center stage right now in the global consciousness and the story is remarkable.
The pictures we see streaming from Iran are dramatic, thought-provoking and amazingly kinetic. The profundity of some of the tweets we’ve seen from those on the battle field is awe-inspiring. I understand how this conflict has captured the minds of the American public, but how much are we accomplishing by donating our empathy to people across the globe?
We have to take these feelings and turn them in to productive actions. We should find ways to channel that passion in our hearts. There is a shock that bolts through all of us when we hear the gun shots ring out. There is anger that rises like smoke in our psyches when we see the protestors physically damaged by the police in Iran. We have to harness it, make it tangible and use it. Not by photoshopping a green haze over twitpics. Not by tuning in to CNN every morning to witness the shell fight. But by donating our time, effort and money to battles being fought and lost in our own backyard.
The city of New Orleans LA is dealing with a mental health crisis. The children who witnessed Katrina and are forced to live through the storms legacy are dealing with depression in horrifying numbers. Their self–medicating behavior has markedly increased the number of teenagers using hard drugs in the city and the adolescent suicide rates are climbing.
The public high school graduation rate in Baltimore, MD is 35%. The unemployment rate hovers around 10% and the murder rate is seven times higher than the national average.
Sacramento, CA has recently been designated poster child status for the growing homeless population. Tent Cities and shanty towns have started popping up in their public parks. Since they don’t have any plumbing, there are concerns about the unsanitary conditions breeding diseases like cholera.
Their stories are captured by the media here and there. The news coverage comes and goes. But once the news breaks for commercial, the story dissipates. We give a sigh, shake our heads and we’re off to the movies. At some point our neighbors and their tales of woe have to affect us like those who are millions of miles away . Or is that why our empathy runs so deep for them? Is it because we know there is no real work in feeling for someone you can’t help?
Don’t get me wrong. Deference for those who stand and fight is a beautiful thing, but deference cannot move mountains. Deference can’t even move many from their couch. And when the media sets a new agenda, Iran is put on the back burner and your twit pic has morphed back to regularly scheduled programming, those children in Baltimore still won’t have diplomas. People in New Orleans will still be living in FEMA trailers and some little kid not two blocks away from you will go to sleep without a roof over his head.
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Great post; a hard message but a message we need to listen to. Today we give too much credit for good intentions and not enough for good action. Until that turns around nothing will change.
EXACTLY what needed to be said. People make me laugh when they can have such passion and contradiction for something going on in someone else’s house when their kitchen needs to be cleaned up. Wonderful post! Totally agree! Keep it up!