fall out

the world is big.  yet is also feels small.

we now, like it or not, are all up in everyone else's business.

i click on "latest headlines" each morning and see things like, 'swiss bus accident kills 20'; 'more deaths in syria'; 'soldiers loot after coup in mali'; 'houston's death from drowning after cocaine'.

snippets of drama, out of context, all sad but we are removed. how can we possibly care for all of the worlds issues? how can we possibly feel for every tragedy? cry over all the sorrow?  and when only given the world in bite sized pieces, how do we respond knowing so little about the issues?  it's too much.  there are too many things happening in the big world to know all sides, all details, all the time.

i think we become somewhat numb on the outside, but underneath we feel a lot- sad, overwhelmed, disparaged, guilty, but most of all, i think we feel helpless.  and this helplessness sits in us waiting for the moments when it can pop out. moments when we grasp for control to make it feel better, to assert 'we are not helpless! we can do something! we have a voice!'

this is the fall out of modern life.  it's the possible down side to the internet, the media, the shrinkage of the world.  what do we do with all we are exposed to?  and that is how it feels exposed.  naked, vulnerable, aware but with out much to guide us.

so enter the Kony2012 video.  30 minutes of flashy propaganda.  a snippet of death and drama, but offering a plan- something to DO, to get behind.  a small piece of control.  a piece of empowerment.  so many of us got excited and felt empowered and jumped aboard the 'help' train and spread the word.

but quickly there was a backlash.  a vehement backlash. people were furious.  something was un-roofed.  people resented the snippetness of it.  the shallowness- the lack of completion, the one sidedness, the absurd idea that one shiny campaign with cool posters and bracelets, that the capture of one bad guy, could 'fix' africa, and that another white guy was out to save people. 

it quickly became an issue that EVERYONE needed to form an opinion about. "where do YOU stand on the kony2012 video?" another thing to polarize.  another issue to divide. it reminded me of that dr. seuss satire of discrimination, "the sneetches", the star bellied sneetches vs. the plain bellied sneetches.  and it seemed quickly that the 'safer' sneetch to be, is the one judging the video as another arrogant white guy's attempt to solve africas problems in an overly simplistic, and possibly violent way. 

but is this about us? no. 

it shouldn't be.  it shouldn't be about whether or not our facebook status shares a post praising or vilifying kony2012.  it should be about banding together, star-bellied or plain-bellied and THINKING about human rights and the abuse of them and how we as a world want to and should deal with it.  but criticizing and polarizing each other isn't helpful.  OF COURSE these issues are complex- duh. OF COURSE they won't be solved by a 30 minute video or the capture of kony.

then jason russell broke and fell to bits. and this is so sad on so many levels. and what are we left with?  what is generation Y left with?  what does this teach them about trying to DO something? or anything?  my concern is that the take home message will be 'watch out!'.  be careful. that if you step out boldly- you'll be mocked and persecuted and might end up going mad and walking around naked shouting in traffic, and then really mocked and persecuted.  so better to just hush, keep a low profile and if you can't say everything about something, then don't say anything at all. 

the good news is we've proven a few things:

we have TREMENDOUS potential energy! all that overwhelm can be harnessed.
we all CARE a lot and we want to do something.
we do have a voice, opinions, and things to say.

i hope the fall out won't be to burn out or fade away.  that we won't be so sick of hearing kony2012 that we'll all roll our eyes.  i hope we won't be so tired of trying to understand the complexities and figure out our responses that africa will again be forgotten. 

what if we were gentle with each other, respected each other, gave each other the benefit of the doubt? what if we were bold in our actions, not just our words?   what if we all got  involved in SOMETHING and worked to stop violence, and alleviate suffering? and how should we teach our children? how can we help them understand this big messy world?  how can we help them put the snippets in context? i don't just want to leave them with, 'it's complicated'.

it's so good that we are awake - that this video ignited our passion to talk and write and think about really big important things.  we should ask the questions that have been asked.  we should want more than snippets.  we should seek to find our place in this great spinning world, to find our voice, to do our part. 

the world is big and small, but we are big and small too.