I'm completely and utterly overwhelmed with sadness sometimes. Much, much more so in the last 4-5 months than ever before. This isn't my own sadness. This sadness is nothing I can really stop or change. I'm sickly sad for all the injustices in the world.
This sadness can be sparked by seeing a "street cat" on my way home from work. These cats live their entire miserable lives on the street, fighting for food, sitting outside behind my apartment shivering in the snow. They are afraid, dirty, hungry, and probably sick. For some reason my heart just aches for animals. It's bad enough when I read about animal abuse online, or see it on the news.... but to see it in person is another story. I know there are "outdoor" cats back home, but these feel like a different breed of stray. There are no programs here to help animals, and there are FAR to feral to let me near them. I've tried. Jack is actually the kitten of the colony behind the house. He will never realize the life he was so close to having. Thank goodness.
To continue on the animal note, the way animals are treated that will be food sickens me. I didn't eat red meat for years, but it wasn't political.... I just don't really care for it. I wish I had the will-power to be a vegetarian. I wish I could make a political statement like that. I'm just too weak!! I know I know... I suck. Dogs are a semi-popular dish here in Korea. The fact they eat dog is gross to a lot of foreigners, mainly because we see dogs as pets, not food. The thing that really makes me sad is the way the kill the dog before they eat it. Before they eat the dog the first hang it from a tree. While it's hanging, they gouge out it's eyes and start cutting parts off of it, slowly torturing it to death. This is all while its alive and screaming for mercy. Koreans kill dogs this way because the endorphins that the dog releases is god for their health. I just find it so hard to believe, that in this day and age that is an acceptable practice to ANY culture. It's disgusting and I truly hope there is a special place in hell for people who abuse poor helpless animals.
On the up-side, China recently announced that they are planning to ban dog and cat meat. This legislature could take up to a decade to approve, and who knows if it will ever make it all the way. It's a step in the right direction though.
Now, to the real nitty gritty. The thing that makes my heart ache more than animals is all the wrong against humans in this world. I feel sick to live in a world where little girls are sold for sex slaves. Where children are starving to death. Where men beat their children and wives. I hate living in a world where people are evil and nasty and get joy from making others suffer. Sometimes I wish I wasn't so interested in World News and affairs. I wish I could turn a blind eye to the people dying and suffering in Haiti right now. I wish I didn't cry for the people dying in Dafur. I wish I didn't feel so helpless when I think about the thousands (maybe hundreds of thousands) of sex slaves in this world. Some of these girls haven't even hit puberty yet and their mother had to sell them to be able to feed the family. What about the men (and sometimes women) who are buying sex from a child? What kind of person can rape a child and sleep at night?
I have no idea if it's "normal" for me to think about these things so often. I just can't help but sit and pay my silent respects for people when I hear about so many new tragedies on the news every day.
Can you imagine how different the world could be if it were easy to help people? Sure, we can feed a homeless person, or clothe a needy child.... but that seems so small. I'm thinking large scale. Imagine if there were ways to end genocide, child slavery, starvation, animal abuse, rape, murder. It seems so obtainable with the amount of money civilized nations throw around..... yet, so unobtainable.
Ok... thats enough for tonight. Goodnight.
2 comments:
I feel the same way you do. It's amazing to me that people are aware of what's going on in Darfur and other countries, yet still allow it to happen. There are actually millions of sex slaves in the world. When I'm asked in class what I want to do after grad school and I say something about sex slaves/human trafficking/child soldiers, most of the class looks at me like I'm crazy because they all want to work in these huge mulit-national corporations. I know whatever job I get after graduation, my help will be very small scale but I think we can all do something to help. It doesn't have to be big... even telling other people about what is going on helps. Education is the first step. :) :hugs:
It is funny that we just had a conversation this morning about Kiva.org. the non-profit website that provides low interest loans (lower than the banks in the area) to people in third world counties hoping to improve their lives. I choose to help women because they are usually uneducated and have few oppotunities to improve their lives. The micro loans I make to these women changes their lives. They can start a business and gain some sense of independence. They can break from the traditional roles that keep them subjugated. Financial independence is one way to break the cycle of abuse and improve their lives and the lives of their children. Having a business that supports the family may keep one little girl from being sold into slavery and allow her to go to school. I can do all of that with one loan, and after it is paid back I make another loan. I don’t make any money on the loan, the interest they pay goes to the Kiva field partner managing the loan. That is how it is possible to chip away at the sadness and overwhelming evil in the world, by changing one life at a time.
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