What kind of world do you want to live in?
I think its easy to say things like the following:
I want to live in a world where everyone gets along
I want to live in a world where discrimination does not exist
I want to live in a world where everyone gets to eat good, healthy food
and
I want to live in a world where everyone cares for one another.
These are all great, admirable wishes for the society in which we live and some of us even fight to reach these ideals.
But when we say these things, do we really have the bigger picture in mind?
When I think of Ebola, I think of many, many different things. I think of the several human lives that have been lost. I think of the several more lives that have lost a loved one. I think of a painful death that I cannot even fathom. And my heart breaks. I don't care where the person is from or even how they got Ebola. My heart just breaks.
And then I see and hear individuals joking about Ebola.
"Don't worry guys, I just have a cold. I won't give you Ebola or anything!"
"I'm travelling to Brazil soon. I hope I don't get Ebola and die!"
I understand the need to make light of grim situations. As an individual working in the line of social work, I have witnessed the use (and have used) humor as a way to cope with overwhelmingly negative situations. But is this how we should be approaching a global crisis? Yes, Ebola is mostly in just a few countries in west Africa. No, Ebola is not spreading like wildfire throughout the rest of the world right now. But yes, this is a global crisis because, at least for me, my friends, my peers, my people, are everywhere. I care about what happens in Swaziland, Costa Rica, Ukraine, and Cambodia.
I can count on my hand the number of cases that have been found in America. I can't do that for the cases found in Liberia and the other countries affected. Yet, as soon as one case came to America, that's when Ebola REALLY became a problem for many people. Why do many individuals not care about an issue like this until it "hits their country"? Many of us are hundreds of miles away from the FEW cases in America. Hundreds of miles. In addition, these cases have been caught and handled. So why the hysteria? I understand the fear of the unknown:
How will Ebola continue to spread? Will it spread? How is Ebola actually transmitted?
These are questions we should be asking. But not for our own skins alone. We should be asking these questions for other people. In other countries. People we have never and probably will never meet. But they're people too. With families. With jobs. With dreams. With feelings. With a future.
Those people. Those breathing, living human beings. I don't know their names. I don't know their lives. I don't know where they came from or where they are going. But those are my people. I'm not a doctor or a scientist or a government official. But I'm a fellow human. I can pray. I can support those who are actively trying to fight what is happening. I can support families who have just lost, or who will eventually lose, a loved one. I can support my fellow human beings who are dying. I can pray for them and I can love them. Because they're humans. They are my people.
I hope you can do the same.
