So what was the biggest problem faced today?
Perhaps your iPhone ran out of battery during a session of Candy Crush on the commute home, or the petrol price was a few cents higher than yesterday when you’d postponed filling up; maybe the local coffee shop gave you a latte instead of a cappuccino, and you’d already walked out of the shop before noticing the lack of chocolate sprinkles. Bummer.
Or we could also move to another level; the government. Maybe Clive Palmer or Tony Abbott made a dick of themselves yet again on television or radio, mispronouncing a name or calling an apple a pear. Hell, there may even be a shifted view on the carbon tax. No sleep for us tonight.
And when a crisis in another country, a non Western country, receives 30 seconds of coverage but results in thousands of deaths (maybe more), you’ll glance at your dinner, put a fork full of steak into your mouth and pity the disaster…for about another 30 seconds. Then the first world problems of battery life, slight deviations in costs and coffee preferences take hold of family discussion at the table once more.
It’s not your fault, it’s not the government’s fault, and it’s not even the fault of mum and dad. This is the society we live in, our culture, and our problems are our problems; the sun won’t bleach them, the tide won’t wash them away and poor conditions on the other side of the world won’t make them any less significant. This is not to say we don’t have life changing problems; this is purely a comparison of conditions and a lack of appreciation.
Education in this regard must grow. The issue here is that many of these countries have media censorships. Just look at the treatment of the Australian journalist in Egypt, and how harsh the penalties for rising against leadership can be.
Every journalist has called Tony Abbott a wanker in writing in the last 6 months (perhaps even in the last week) and never have we been more free. We won’t be locked up or executed for calling him a wanker; we’ll likely receive a high five from a stranger for doing so.
We all know about Hitler because it was World War. Less will know about Pol Pot’s regime in Cambodia, where 1.7 million people were slaughtered; torture of the highest order, babies bashed against trees so they wouldn’t rise up against him in the future to defend dead relatives. Chairman Mao’s leadership resulted in 30 million deaths in the 50’s, but Melbourne’s hosting of the Olympic games remains more discussed when referring to that decade.
How much do you know about the recent bombings in Gaza? Very little, and more to the point, how much do you really care?
More than 400 tonnes of explosives have been dropped on Gaza. This isn’t a one off, as war sparks. Before war there is massacre; war suggests two or more parties fighting.
Yet when there’s an event such as The World Cup in Brazil, suddenly the distant becomes familiar. We wake up at times that are almost impossible to keep the eyes open and watch teams from around the globe compete for a trophy. Our country is eliminated yet still we watch on. Happiness, sport and celebration is infectious; disaster, death, destruction and chaos doesn’t wake a person up at 4am unless personally affected.
This is the accepted way of the world. Our country sends troops to help out a nation in need, but we only comprehend the chaos when one of our own falls. There is nothing wrong with being patriotic, unless it breeds ignorance.
Growing up, I was as guilty as the next. It’s society, and the norms aren’t easily broken. But when you see the situation through your own eyes, not through a television or computer screen but through actual travel, reality increases the proximity. People who’ve been to a war torn country, or a media suppressed country, or even a country without the frills of Australia begin to see our country for what is it: paradise.
Paradise is safety, and the saying ‘the grass is always greener on the other side’ doesn’t apply. The grass on the other side burns in fire and chemical and blood, and will likely never grow again.
This isn’t a call to live in worry and fear, or to head over to a ravaged country to rescue the poor. It is a call to stop hating on every little aspect that arises, as life in a country such as Australia consistently gets better and moves through times of doubt because freedom is paramount.
Enjoy it.
Chris Sutton
