Global Awareness

This evening I watched the movie, "Blood Diamond". By the end of the movie, I found myself in tears. For many who know me this may come as a surprise because the number of times that others have seen me cry is few and far between. I took a moment to consider what about the movie had gotten me so upset and I came to the realization that it was several things.

The movie was set in Sierra Leone, Africa. Just the images of the landscape gave me this longing feeling in the pit of my stomach. Do you know the feeling that I am talking about where you feel so greatly connected and apart of a place or group of people that when you are far away and you see photos you just have this intense desire to be there again?

I was in the Peace Corps in Africa from 2002 to 2004. This was a life altering experience which I may touch on further in a different post. At that time in my life, I felt much more in tune to what was happening across the globe. The longer that I am back in America the more I find myself caught up in my day to day comings and goings and the less I find myself focusing on what I think of as real issues. I have become more concerned with what new furnishings I want for my house, what new articles of clothing I want at Anthropologie, where are the hip places in town for food or drinks, and what are the best movies out at the moment. The real problem with this evolution is that it seems to all revolve around me.

Some may ponder what is wrong with such an existence. The issue is that this is not who I think that I am or at least who I want to be. I believe that I have a higher purpose which is not me centric. I remember shortly after I returned from Zambia the tsunami occured. I was outraged by the American media's response to the tsunami. The news went something like this: There has been a tsunami of disastrous proportions, now on to your local news. I felt like that the media was relatively dismissive of this natural disaster until reports began regarding the number of Americans who were there on vacation. Correct me if I am wrong, but we are apart of the human race and what happens to one of us affects us all.

So, enough of my soapbox today. I guess my point is that I find myself being less globally aware than I previously felt that I was and that is my own fault. "Blood Diamond" reminded me that I need to be more globally aware. There are over 200,000 children who are soliders in Africa, the Aparatheid ended only 13 years ago, people are hungry, dying of AIDS, and I believe that my purpose is to react. I'm not sure how, but I will continue to look along my journey for the answers to reveal themselves.