We're Touched, And We Couldn't Care Less
Posted: Wednesday, March 03, 2010
by Michael Ramzy
delusionthread.com
Another beautiful night in America as the stars are out and the moon is out and all is well with the world.
Well . . . maybe not.
We just had a devastating earthquake in Chile in which hundreds died and thousands were reft of their homes, and the big news was the possible tsunamis which would wash over Hawaii. I was glued to the television as countless Americans the other day watching the palm trees sway on the beaches and the waves do . . . well, what waves do. There was no great tsunami, and I kept wondering about the news from Chile. Sure, Hawaii is part of America so of course the coverage would be mostly about that state, but geez! Some should have been about Chile. But . . . no.
So. There are natural disasters which occur all of the time, regardless of global warming (or cooling or whatever), and there are other man-made events which happen that grab our attention for a few days (Mr. Hasan gunning down thirteen people at Ft. Hood, Mr. Stark flying his small plane into the IRS offices here in Austin, to name a few) and then we go back to what is really important.
The point is this: are we so consumed with our own lives that we feel these things (especially the natural disasters) cannot touch us?
Apparently so.
Every year without fail there are wildfires and mudslides in California, and yet how many of us knows the acreage burned beyond repair? How many of us can comprehend 250,000 people dying in a tsunami? It was hard enough for us to understand 3000 people dying in New York on September 11, and yet even then after only a few weeks the recriminations and accusations started flying and, as always, we went back to what was really important to us. To this day I cannot look at an airplane in the sky without remembering that day. I know it's probably silly, yet I can't help it.
We as Americans have been through much in our short history. We have much to go through still, of course, as our crushing debt and dubious political gamesmanship seem to be sending us where none of us wish to go. We seem to be going there anyway, and why?
We say we care, and our actions show we do care for a little while. But then something happens to us, to this great rock of a nation, something which distracts us from where we as a nation should be. The rock splinters and we become little shards which aren't connected, only to end up like gravel thrown into a pond.
We need to care all of the way, give the things that matter to us as a nation the attention they deserve. Then, and only then, when we say something has touched us, we can say it has touched us to the point where it put us on the path of national unity and solution.
Sure, we think and act alone. It is in our best interest to think and act together.
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Top-level comments on this article: (6 total)Yes, indeed. Last night I watched "Hotel Rwanda," and was transported back in time to 1993, when the Yugoslav Republic was diffracting into several war torn regions, which garnered successful appeal from the world community, resulting in decisive intervention. Meanwhile, honest-to-God genocide was taking place in Rwanda, in Kigari and Goma, where an estimated one million innocent people, many of them children were brutally hacked and shot to death, their rotting corpses left for years at the spots where they were butchered. The movie brought back the shameful waffling that symbolized Clinton's (God bless his soul, for he brought great economic prosperity, but completely dropped the ball on Rwanda) Press Secretary, who couldn't give a simple "yes" when questioned about whether or not genocide was taking place in Rwanda. The most deplorable crimes, rivaling, and perhaps more bestial than anything that took place in Nazi Germany were happening right under our noses, and we ignored it because they were black and it was Africa, after all. How many reading this remember those times? Your puzzlement has proven Michael's point.
Yes Mike we Americans need to unite as the united people we are supposed to be, good article.We are indeed 'supposed to be'. Perhaps one day we will be. Thanks as always.
There is power in numbers. Hopeful we will someday once again become a nation united. Good article Joel. Thanks for sharing,We will become united again, I think. We just have to reach that tipping point, which is probably right around the corner. Thanks for reading and commenting, although I've never been called Joel before.
The earth is quaking for the return of Jesus. We certainly do need to care all the way, become connected and prepare for the great event. Great article!Perhaps . . . that isn't for me to say. I do hope we all will come together, though, as I believe we will. Eventually. Thanks for stopping by.
hi michael,this article was very well put together.there are simple, inexpensive things we can do to help each other.i cleaned out my son's closet after some 15 years-the bottom of it, anyway where all the toys ended up.nothing was wrong with them, so i put them in the back of my jeep until i could figure out what to do with them.i passed a little house yesterday and there were a few plastic toys outside, so i stopped and knocked on the door, and a grandmother and 3 year old came out. i explained my situation, and we took all the toys out for the little girl's inspection, and she liked them all, so there you go---she's got new toys. a helicopter, a castle, a boat, etc.i even had 3 bags of clothes, but they took the truck away that i used to bring them to, but the grandmother told me there was a bin at the next gas station, so i was able to get rid of them, too, and know that there were some good coats, sweatshirts, and jeans for those who had not.joining in life and sharing with others is a good feeling,thaks for sharing,my best,sueThank you for sharing: what a great story! That's how we do things, right? Right on. Thanks again.
Michael, "as in the days of Noah" and yes a great delusion has fallen over the great majority of the world. Only those whose eyes and ears are open understand this. Most of the world seeks only what the world has to offer them and while, thank God, there are still the poor and average folk who give, for the most part those who have do little to nothing, reality, fact and out of the numbers and statistics of those who give and not and in what percentages. Yes if the world and I do say world wants to live as one New World Order then what better place to start then when disaster strikes. Sorry, that isn't going to happen. Best wishes, Robert.There is a great delusion, yet I don't believe it's all over the majority. I think perhaps the most developed nations have deluded themselves, sure, since money and power are the way of life. Yet remember the majority of the planet lives in poverty, and it is those who are more realistic and not as deluded.Thanks for reading and commenting.
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