Thursday, March 11, 2010
Guilty For Not Seeing The Unknown
This topic hits right to the heart, or at least it should for most of of us. How is it that you could be guilty for not seeing someone or something that is unknown to you. Well, I'll tell you. Are you ever watching T.V. and you see one of those world visions people pop up on a commercial and ask you to donate some of your money to a homeless person in Africa? Well my friends this is exactly I am talking about. You see, those kids are unknowns to you until you saw that commercial. They are unknown because you simply didn't know them, try to get to know them, or was exposed to them by some outside source other than yourself (before the commercial of course). This could happen with other things too, not just the starving kids in Africa. I would have to say that 80-90% of us live in places that have some sort of hurting going on in the streets around us, rather it be drugs or neglect-and we are oblivious to it. This is very true for most of us, especially those who are reading this simply because we have or are working on a computer meaning that we have some resources that those people don't. Could you imagine feeling guilty for this? SHOULD we feel guilty- is the real question. My thoughts are simply this, I do not believe we should be feeling guilty until our duties are fulfilled and everything we NEED to do is done. Then, and this is only a maybe, should we feel guilty. I can tell you my opinion on the matter, but that might not meet with your opinion. Obviously it'd be a nice thing, and I might be hitting a sore subject so bare with me and please don't judge me, but what about people in your family you might not know about? Is it fair to the people in your family to not receive some extra money when they are in times of need over DYING kids in Africa? Think about it. You have to decide whether or not making a savings account for your child to go to college one day over saving someone's life across sea's that you don't even know. I understand that this is a very hard decision. Of course, this can even get down to...do you really need that extra ice cream after your meal, or do you send that money that would be used for ice cream to save someone's life? Something I cannot decipher. Something, to be honest, I would only pray about. Yes, I would feel guilty if I had a million dollars and I bought lavish cars and a mansion for my family of four. I just don't know how to react to such a thing, especially when I'm fighting for a better life and taking advantage of my God given opportunities. This might be up to your faith, as it probably would be for me. I just don't think some people would take this very lightly. I'm guessing that some of you are reading this and I'm making you feel guilty. You might be thinking, "oh my goodness, I am so horrible, I shouldn't have bought that 60$ purse, I could have saved someone from dying!" Others of you might think differently. Maybe some do take this lightly because they realize that this has been happening for such a long time, heck their whole life! Why should they care now? I am guilty of not seeing them for the most part, but I don't know how I feel about feeling guilty when I find them. There are always times when you walk into a McDonald's or grocery store and you are placed in front of a little container with a slit in the top of it to put in coins and dollar bills. They accept anything from a penny to a hundred dollar bill. Should you donate to those canisters that support a just cause of cancer or AIDS worldwide? Well, if you are given change of a quarter, five pennies and a nickle-what do you do? I'll tell you what I suggest you do. You take the nickle and pennies which you are probably going to throw in your car change holder and it won't be seen until a little brother or niece asks for it, and place it in the container. Your niece or nephew, brother or sister can wait for their nickle and penny on the ground, the starving kids aren't fortunate enough for a piece of bread, let alone a penny on the ground. Then you take the quarter, and get yourself some candy from the candy dispenser found on your way out, and you eat the candy and feel good that you might have just saved someone's life.
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I really enjoyed reading your blog. I also wrote about how people can be invisible to us. I thought that your blog was very insightful, and I liked your point of view on the topic. It’s easy to think about the people that we see or come in contact with as being invisible to us. But like you brought out, what about the people that are in other countries? It seems to be that it would be easier to have these people as invisible in our lives. Because like you said we may not have even known who they were until we saw the commercial, and it would be just as easy to forget once the commercial is over or when we turn the channel. From reading your blog I gathered that the overall tone was not just people being invisible to us, but how we should care about the people around us. I don’t think its really enough to just get to the know the person, but it would be so much better if we were to care what went on in their lives, and show general concern. You asked if we should feel guilty, and I’m sure many would ask “am I my brother’s keeper?” I think a bit of selflessness would make this world a better place.
ReplyDeleteFrom the time I was young well into my teenage years I used to be the type to give a little change here and a little there. I would offer money to the person on the side of the freeway UNTIL I had a few encounters that made me question if I should be giving my money or not. Beginning with the commercial you see on TV about the starving kids in Africa well around that time I was doing this, I don’t remember the exact organization, but it was all over the news these people were a fraud and the money was not actually being sent over to Africa so that killed me donating to a good cause. Next, if I had a few dollars I would give to the person on the side of the freeway or standing in front of the McDonalds, let me tell you, I offered to be this man some food out of the restaurant I came out with a burger and a complete meal he damn near bit my head off telling he did not want any food I have had this happen a few times. Being that I had a family member that used to do these things I finally came to the realization that most of these people that were standing on these corners and in front of the restaurants were there to get drug money or alcohol money I felt so silly for wanting to help them. But what I learned is that at least my heart was in the right place and if I donate to a charity now I need to know where the money is going, how is it going to get there, and what evidence does the charity have to show that they are actually doing the specific charity a service.
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