plenty of people are poor in this world, plenty of people are starving, hungry, sad, alone. animals die neglected and abused all the time. murder, violence, and random chaotic destruction are practically a staple of our modern, industrial, financial-centric world. not a day goes by when someone is not suffering, somewhere, horribly. we know this, we acknowledge it at least somewhere in the back of our minds, but do we really GET it? is it real for us, if we never directly confront it? it's easy to ignore a crying child if you are deaf, and can't hear their cries. are we "deafened" by distance?
a more fundamental question i was wondering is, does anything exist *to you* that you are not paying attention to? is it real *to you* if it's not entering your senses in some tangible way - or if it has never done so in the past and will never do so in the future? if there are only subjective viewpoints and no overall objective TRUTH, then who's to say in your world at least, there is no poverty; if you're a person who has never heard of it, never experienced it, and never will, then IS IT REAL?
I read a story once of a man who grew up in a very small tribe in the forests of south america, and had never seen a person at a distance before. the first time he saw one, he thought they were an insect, that was growing bigger and bigger as they approached. he was scared, he didn't know what this "monster" was. when he realized it was another person, he was amazed.
we see people at a distance all the time, especially those of us who live in cities, yet we don't experience this sense of amazement when a person from afar becomes a person near. why? because we've always known it, we've seen such things from an early age and have internalized it as a part of the world and of an acceptable part of our environment. a person who has never seen poverty before, might not be so complacent. he too, might feel wonderment, that something like that can exist.
i'm not sure where i'm going with all this. but i hope it sort of makes sense!
a more fundamental question i was wondering is, does anything exist *to you* that you are not paying attention to? is it real *to you* if it's not entering your senses in some tangible way - or if it has never done so in the past and will never do so in the future? if there are only subjective viewpoints and no overall objective TRUTH, then who's to say in your world at least, there is no poverty; if you're a person who has never heard of it, never experienced it, and never will, then IS IT REAL?
I read a story once of a man who grew up in a very small tribe in the forests of south america, and had never seen a person at a distance before. the first time he saw one, he thought they were an insect, that was growing bigger and bigger as they approached. he was scared, he didn't know what this "monster" was. when he realized it was another person, he was amazed.
we see people at a distance all the time, especially those of us who live in cities, yet we don't experience this sense of amazement when a person from afar becomes a person near. why? because we've always known it, we've seen such things from an early age and have internalized it as a part of the world and of an acceptable part of our environment. a person who has never seen poverty before, might not be so complacent. he too, might feel wonderment, that something like that can exist.
i'm not sure where i'm going with all this. but i hope it sort of makes sense!
