I remember when I first heard that phrase in America. While I admit, I had heard it many times before, it was different hearing it as an immigrant.
That phrase would come up every now and then in conversation, with friends I had known for awhile, people I had just met, acquaintances and people I might have looked up to. I might have been explaining about something I might have noticed when I was in (insert country known to be as a developing nation), and that phrase would come up. While it was not the most uncommon phrase, it simply just bugged me. Unfortunately, many of us around the world are subjected to this mindset.
I would ask myself how did we come to this mindset? I knew I certainly did not want to be in such a vulnerable position, but I also did not want to go on another day not knowing that there would be people who needed others to care for them, and root for their continuous strength to carry on in the midst of the storm.
Life continues to be a blunt reminder that as humans and society, we do not listen to history. Even if we did, maybe things would be different. Tragedy processes differently now in the age of booming technology, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, social media, cybersecurity, the Dark Web and many more. While society is subjected to great things, it also cannot seem to escape the worst.
With the genocide in Myanmar of the Rohingya community, unrest in Yemen, South Sudan, Syria, hurricane recovery in Puerto Rico, as well as many more tragedies that continue to strike, expressing our relief that we do not live where the unthinkable will not change the fact that it happens to people we do not know, and people we might know, regardless of whether we want it or not.
Lives continue to be lost, women and children raped and tortured, refugees continue to flee with no idea where they are allowed to settle down. While it is important to be grateful for the lack of risks, empathy is a key factor in this, taking the initiative to know what is going on, standing up against injustice whether it be social media, campaign enactment, calling your representatives and many more. Who knows? If the tables were turned, that could be us in the middle of war, seeing the unthinkable and hearing the last thing we needed to hear.
One of the reason why things happen or tragedies strike, is because there is a lack of response from a much needed audience. In this age of technology and tragedy, we are the needed audience to speak against these atrocities. So we should start speaking now, raising our voices against what is wrong, regardless of where we live.
petiteshark 