A Cynics Sacrasm

The weirdest thing happened as I awoke this morning.

I guess it is an indication of what has been on my mind lately.  I have been doing a lot of deep thinking about the predominant North American attitude toward the famine in the Horn of Africa.  I read in an article the other day how in the 1980's there was a huge outpouring of support for relief in Africa from singers/song writers and other famous people.  The song "We Are the World" alone made 64 million dollars.  But nothing significant has happened of that nature in regard to the current famine in Africa.

The question is Why?  The current famine is more severe than the previous one.  Why is the world not responding as it has in the past?

Back to the weird thing.  I am not typically a cynic, and I'm certainly not a lover of rap.  But the words that popped into my head were of a cynical rapping nature.  It went something like this:

People are starving in Africa
My breakfast is almost ready.
People are starving in Africa,
The toaster just popped, who cares.
People are hungry in Africa,
I'm reading the paper right now.
There's nothing in here about Africa,
Good gravy my stocks are down.

Who cares about the people in Africa,
Gotta get to work and make some bread,
Who cares about the people in Africa,
I care about myself instead.

I thought to myself, "Why have I become so cynical?"  Lately I have been posting status updates on the Plight of the Horn of Africa on my Facebook and Twitter accounts.  I have probably posted at least 50 updates over the last coouple of months.  Hardly a single "like" has been registered or a "comment" posted in reply.  So Monday I posted this status: "Over the summer months of 2011, 30,000 children under the age of five died as a result of starvation in the Horn of Africa.  Doesn't anybody care?"  I received two comments saying, "I do."  One from a lady in Halifax and another from my eleven year old granddaughter.

I suspect that some of my friends on Facebook have blocked me because of my forthright approach.  I once knew a lady who would turn off her TV whenever a Charity organization advertisement came on so she wouldn't have to feel guilty.

I must confess though I was once like that - if I could keep myself from becoming aware I wouldn't have to deal with it.  I think, generally speaking, this is the attitude of our North American culture: "Out of sight, out of mind."  Do the people of Africa actually exist?  One would wonder when you consider the frivolous things that occupy our minute by minute thinking.  Some of the Facebook statuses I've read over the years have been quite ridiculous: "I cut my fingernails today."

Forgive me for my rantings, but sometimes there needs to be a bit of sarcasm in preaching in order to face the cold-hard reality of what we are really like and who we really are (I'm speaking in general terms of course).  "Doesn't anybody care?"

Later,

-Leo