I was asked again last night "why Sierra Leone when there are so many people here in the US that need help?". Watch the video below... I feel bad about my disgust with this question as the people that ask it are good intelligent people, but it really bothers me. We, as a collective whole, have no concept here in the US of what "needing help" really is. Our education and media systems gloss over the struggles beyond our borders (unless it directly effects our national security or economic goals), and our social focus looks directly past other people and to our own seemingly fragile selves, our own unstable plights in times of economic 'crisis'. Yet "Crisis" here, still means a MUCH better life than most people in the world. Has our success made us entitled? Does it absolve us of our humanity? Our responsibility and compassion for others?
Life becomes easier when we ignore and push down our physical emotions. We are mostly taught that it is their fault, that 'we' rose above, and that it is not wholly our concern - despite that it is our 'democratically' run country, and thus its people, that leads a globalized world that benefits us tremendously.
We are human, we have hearts, we have souls, we are made of compassion. And that compassion does not and should not have a boundary that extends only as far as our national borders, but should extend as far as our hearts will take them - infinitely - to all places and to all people...
www.walkinglion.org
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