Friday, March 11, 2011

Global Coverage Vs. Out of Sight/Out of Mind


NON-JESUS JUKE FASHION

Anytime you turn on the television and see suffering of any kind, it breaks your heart (even if we've become desensitized to it)
This morning everyone woke up to the news that Japan was hit but a surge Tsunami and devastated the coast. Millions/Billions of dollars to rebuild, estimated 60 lives were lost in the impact (so far) and the world is sending out their prayers in the form of national aid and #hashtag prayers.

We need to pray for Japan, we need to pray that God will graciously give his peace to the families of those who have lost their loved ones. But seeing (via Twitter) all of the reoccurring themes of "heartbroken" "devastation" "tragedy" with the hashtags of #prayforjapan ... got to me. Like I've already typed "We need to pray for Japan" ... but knowing what I know, and understanding what the majority of us, as the "fortunate", are aware of ... I've come to the conclusion ... if it doesn't exist on the National/Global/Facebook Coverage ... we won't care as much, unless we really invest.

My heart really does break for Japan, even a single life loss ... sucks, sincerely, and there are an estimated 90+ lives lost. But putting the numbers and prevent-ability of the statistics ... I find this:

Acording to GlobalIssues.org, over 22,000 children die every day from preventable diseases (1 child every 4 seconds, 15 children every minute)
Poverty.com released the statistic 25,000 people die every day from hunger or hunger related causes (according to the United Nations
USAID a Government funded organization posted 5,000 people die a day from AIDS

According to the statistics on hunger, the devastation of the Japanese Tsunami would be equal to a Tsunami happening 300 consecutive days to amount to the deaths caused by hunger (which is preventable) .. in one day.

I'm not trying to be insensitive, truly, only attempting to put things into perspective ... Global coverage breeds a "fad" like concern, without investment.
If we are going to invest in something ... we need to invest in the betterment of man kind ... overall ... not just what appears on the News more frequently

We, as a society, can indeed impact the world ... but only if we truly invest in the betterment of man kind ... that means find the things that are "Out of Sight/Out of Mind"
and pursuing the development of the 52,000 lives that will die today, with only the 3 statistics I've mentioned ...

Pray for Japan, pray for God's peace ... but more so ... Pray for those who don't have the privileged of Global Coverage