outside, there's probably fireworks and people screaming and cheering. somewhere near you people are dancing, having fun, forgetting that somewhere else in the world, there is complete darkness, save for the flash of bombs and missile fire.
it is so easy for us to forget, in our nests of warmth and comfort, that there are other people dying from disease, starvation, cold, heat, neglect, melancholy. have we forgotten them? just because we cannot see them, does not mean we cannot feel their sadness creeping up to us when we become still in the night.
have we forgotten to love our fellow man/woman/child? were we really put on this earth to hate one another and destroy our precious environment?
giving your old unwanted clothes during the Christmas season is not enough to keep the billions of homeless people in the world warm, and eating organic will not change the fact that many millions of other people will never even see a piece of your unwanted food that day. buying RED is not going to change the fact that america remains the most wasteful nation in the world, and corporate social responsibility still remains the exceptionality, when it should be the rule.
indeed, as RED reminds us, we have the POWER to make a difference. (by buying their product...?) but do we, as they want us to believe, have a choice?
surely not. otherwise, why would millions of children and elderly be dying of malnutrition all over the world? why else would the millions in Africa in dire need of AIDS medication require US consumers to buy additional amounts of Gap jeans they don't need, while giving them false cause to pat themselves on the back for their consumer-based philanthropy?
if we really wanted to make a difference, surely we would find the resources and energy and good will to do it? (after all, we are spending so much money on an admittedly useless war, one that is costing the lives of thousands of innocent civilians' and American soldiers' lives.
and as the RED ad reminds us, "we don't want them to die."
do we really believe that? if we were really so kind-hearted, would we allow this to happen? take a look at the things we are easily allowing ourselves to accept.
then tell me this does not make you sick:
and what are your expensive designer tees gonna do to change that?
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as you sip your champagne tonight and then crawl into your warm bed, try to remember that all over the world there are countless untracked landmines, children who will never live to early adolescence because of disease and lack of food, young men and women (merely children themselves) in the military, generations of people who will never know a world of peace, who will be the victims of ceaseless, unnecessary war -- and for what?! because we can close our eyes, turn away, can slip into our material comforts and forsake the suffering of those we've never met. how easily we forget our brethren on the other side of the world. how easily we forget!
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we can do better. now let's actually try.
to a better 2007. (may this be the beginning of the future...)
-stephanie
how you can help:
donate to UNICEF.
tell George to Save Darfur.
help The Global Fund directly, rather than buy from RED.
5 comments:
Could also try wearing yellow and/or blue - the opposite of red on teh colour spectrum
happy 2007
actually, green is the opposite of red on the color spectrum. if you stare at a dot of red and then look at a white sheet immediately after, you will see a dot of green, the residue hue opposite. your rods and cones were so focused on reading the red that they compensate by seeing green!
just a nerd fact to welcome the new year.
:-)
-stephanie
chukl
OMG I felt kind of embarrassed after I posted that, actually... Protest something (i.e. red tee) by putting on some coloured tshirt - I just thought, "lame, Daydreamer, lame" But, hey, you responded...
It started me thinking, actually, during Desert Storm (Gulf War I), it was all about ribbons... I remember it as starting with yellow ribbons, which families of soldiers would put on their trees at home to show support... pink ribbons for something There were like black ribbons as little linkable graphics people put on their webpages when the www came out to protest censorship
I mention this as there is a pink campaign concerning breast cancer
nice chatting with you though stephan!e
here's what i think about the whole RED/ribbon/consumerism/activism as fad thing: http://www.cafepress.com/wuukiee/579741
not that i disagree with showing support for our troops, breast cancer awareness, etc. but i think mistaking conspicuous consumption with activism and philanthropism can actually do more harm than good.
ask any soldier, he or she will tell you they'd much rather us end the war than drive around with stupid ribbon magnets on our cars.
just my $.02
-stephan!e
This is what you tell yourself first.
So before the others do have you done your part with peace?
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