The other day, I made a post. It's the one prior to this one. Lots of happy gabblings about my favorite band. Prattling in over-stuffed paragraphs. It's what I do. I had concerns with posting it. I have concerns- fear- with all my posts. The usual writer's worries. In this case, the concerns were compounded given that I have the utmost respect for these guys. What if they happen to read it- and don't like it? What if my unbridled enthusiasm comes off as the type of person you smile politely at and carefully edge away from? It may have. But I kept it largely as it was. And I posted it anyway. Why? Because we should never hesitate to let someone know we appreciate them. The next day- yesterday- the attacks came in Paris. On came the shock. On came the sadness. On came the news, filtering in piece by piece; the badly-timed political comments; the pledges of solidarity.
Times of crisis bring out the best in so many. That is heartening to see. The world may crumble about our feet, but if we stand together we have a better chance of survival. When are we going to realize that we are all we've got? To paraphrase another thing I stated in my previous post (that's timing, sigh): if we can put aside our differences and stop the fighting, and understand that this is it: this planet, this people, we are, really, no, REALLY, all we've got; imagine the possibilities. I hate situations like this- an understatement. The horror, the needless losing of lives to hate, the overwhelming feeling of helplessness. What can I do?? But there's nothing. Not for me, personally. I'm half a world away. People began posting other things. Not just these attacks in Paris, but reminders of the other attacks that took place there all too recently. Then other attacks, around the world. One just the day beforehand, in Lebanon. Was there any coverage of it in our (American) news? Apparently not. (I don't know personally, I don't watch the newsnews anymore, just get it from Facebook, Twitter, and occasional Daily Show. ...But nobody mentioned it there that I saw...) This is worrying. There's a whole segment of the world that doesn't seem to merit attention as being newsworthy, despite the scores of lives lost. If it happened in this country, you better believe it'd be all over the place. So... why? There are a couple of explanations I've been able to think of, neither of them good. One is that the areas suffering recent attacks are, generally speaking, areas that suffer attacks rather a lot; or at least are areas CLOSE to areas that suffer attacks a lot, and/or are also in turmoil quite often. So: it happens often enough... we get used to it... it's not news anymore. People dying. In scores, no less. ...That's not news... The other thought is just as depressing. Paris is a city; a bustling metropolis. Sure, it's foreign, but still it's... a lot like American cities. The city and the people have a lot of characteristics that many of us Americans can understand. Areas in the Middle East and even surrounding, many Americans are not so familiar with, except for being at war with them (if you can even call it a war). It seems as though, perhaps, it's just the prejudice at work here: that they're the enemy, they're different. That they're not like us. They're not like us. I hope I'm wrong. I hope there's some other, logical, reason why we haven't covered these situations; it's just that I can't see any other possibilities. Why can't we see past the superficial? Judgments based on appearance are ingrained, and may have saved our lives many many thousands of years ago. But this is now, and we have developed the ability to question our prejudices. Why do we not do this more often? Who cares how often someone prays, or who they pray to, if it doesn't affect your life in any way? Who cares what they eat or how they get to work, or what that work is, again, if it doesn't affect you? They're still people. They still eat. They still work. They still care for their children, and want the best for them. I continue to hope. I will always have hope. I want to bring that hope to others. I want to let everyone know, right now, that I care about them. I may not agree with your views, but (again the caveat: if it doesn't harm me or anyone else) those are superficial things. At our core, we are all human. We are all life. And we are all we've got.
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Rebecca FrohlingWriter, dancer, actress, mother, me. Archives
February 2019
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