Global vs. Local. (One or the other)

Isn’t it funny how so many people seem to have a preconceived notion as to which one is more important than the other. Today I was in my Literature class and made a comment about my experiences in South Africa when the topic of Foreign Aid came up. Immediately I became the new target of the conversation.

Now I could care less if they think I’m some socialist that hates America. But what really bothered me was that after my comment the classroom seemed to split into three groups:

1= Those for local help only.

2= Those for global help only.

3= And those that just didn’t care.

This really bothered me. Somehow in showing support for the help of those that are starving 9200 miles away, I discounted those starving just around the corner. I can’t lie, I was a little taken back…how did they take that out of what I said?

Then I realized that this is a extremely common belief… So many of us think that in some way one is more important than the other.

The Nationalists would say, “There are people here that need help. Take care of OURS before someone else.”

The more Globally minded would say, “NO WAY! There is plenty of help here for those that want it. We must focus on those that don’t have this luxury.”

Both arguments each hold some merit…and I must admit that upon returning from Africa, I was very much a member of the last group for quite some time. But I would like to raise the question. Why does one life have to be more important than the other? Why can’t the drunk under the American overpass be just as important as the orphan? Regardless of your citizenship or location, isn’t life just as precious?

I just wanted to throw this idea out there and ask each of you who somehow stumble upon it to think about where you stand on the issue. Think about if you harbor some sort of favoritism towards a group of people in need. But I beg you to see that they are BOTH in need, and we (humanity) are responsible. Either way, I would rather you have some active opinion on the issue than be the group in the back of the classroom that just doesn’t care.

Creation

This is a movie about Darwin and his struggle through the writing of his theory of Natural Selection and Evolution. It is currently playing all over the world.....everywhere but the US. And it looks like there is a good amount of people fighting to keep it out. Read up on the story....

Is this a religious based sensory of art? Or just some publicity stunt?








what are your thoughts?

What Im listening to this morning....

Why I Love This Band!!!

This is a widget playing a song for a 12 month project that the band "Mae" began in January. Since then they have already raised enough for Habitat for Humanity to build a home and each month they will post a new song available for download upon donation.

Be The Change......

MaeWidget

Kurt Vonnegut & the re-reading of a great book!

So about a year ago I was given a fantastic book called "A man Without A Country" by my friend Tiff. I found this to be such a great quick read that the other day I felt like it was time to read it again! I'm kinda cheating on this post, because she posted this exact same quote on her blog about a year ago, but it remains one of my favorite quotes from any book.....

If you ever get your hands on it, its a really quick read but will leave a lasting impression on you I'm sure.

Here is what Vonnegut had to say on such things as music:

No matter how corrupt, greedy, and heartless our government, our corporations, our media and our religious and charitable institutions may become, the music will still be wonderful.If I should die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph: The only proof he needed for the existence of God was music.Now, during our catastrophically idiotic war in Vietnam, the music kept getting better and better and better. We lost that war, by the way. Order couldn't be restored in Indochina until the people kicked us out.That war only made billionaires out of millionaires. Today's war is making trillionaires out of billionaires. Now I call that progress.And how come the people in countries we invade can't fight like ladies and gentlemen, in uniform and with tanks and helicopter gunships?Back to music. It makes practically everybody fonder of life than he or she would be without it. Even military bands, although I am a pacifist, always cheer me up. And I really like Strauss and Mozart and all that, but the priceless gift that African Americans gave the whole world when they were still in slavery was a gift so great that it is now almost the only reason many foreigners still like us at least a little bit. That specific remedy for the worldwide epidemic of depression is a gift called the blues. All pop music today - jazz, swing, be-bop, Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Stones, rock-and-roll, hip-hop, and on and on - is derived from the blues.A gift to the world? One of the best rhythm-and-blues combos I ever heard was three guys and a girl from Finland playing in a club in Krakow, Poland.The wonderful writer Albert Murray, who is a jazz historian and a friend of mine amoung things, told me that during the era of slavery in this country - an atrocity from which we can never fully recover - the suicide rate per capita among slave owners was much higher than the suicide rate among slaves.Murray says he things this was because slaves had a way of dealing with depression, which their white owners did not: They could shoo away Old Man Suicide by playing and singing the Blues. He says something else which also sounds right to me. He says the blues can't drive depression clear out of a house, but it can drive it into the corners of any room where it's being played. So please remember that.Foreigners love us for our jazz. And they don't hate us for our purported liberty and justice for all. They hate us for our arrogance.

Socrates

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."