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2168154 Responseshttp://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/300000-whats-it-mean-to-us/300%2C000%21++What%27s+it+mean+to+me...to+us%3F2010-04-21+17%3A40%3A19Sam+Richards to 300,000! What’s it mean to me…to us?
I mean I think we're just draw to other people in our average proximity. I don't think this makes us bad people. I don't think the means we're careless or insensitive. I feel closer to my roomates than the average person because I live with them. Because I share so many things with them. We go to the same school. We lead similar lives. And its that closeness that would distinguish them from the others random people I walk by every day. Its that same–yet obviously different– closeness I feel like when I compare Americans to those abroad. In comparison, Americans are my roomates, and the rest are just the random people I walk by down the street.
I understand what this person is saying completely. I personally feel guilty that I am not doing more to help, and honestly, that I am not more sad. I mean obviously I am sad about what happened, but I didn’t cry. I didn’t lose sleep over it, it didn’t stop my day to day activities. I feel like a bad person because I am not more sad about it. I try. I try to understand and to imagine what those people are going through, but I can’t. I’ve looked at pictures, I’ve talked to people who have gone to Haiti, and still I just can’t put myself there and I can’t imagine it. It doesn’t affect me directly, so I can’t really empathize. I wish there was something I could do, but I just feel like there isn’t. I can’t stop going to class to go there and help, I can’t donate large amounts of money. I’m really glad that Sam collects money for Haiti because it makes me feel like I am doing something, but really, is that 10-15 dollars that I’ve donated really going to make a difference?
I think this is a really hard question to answer. When we had the attacks on the World Trade Centers on September 11th, I remember being let out of school at noon and going home. Yet we had to come back to school the next day and the teachers were not to talk to us about it, only a letter was sent home with us to our parents. That happened on our home soil to our own people, yet my school, my family’s school, my parents work, we all went on with our daily lives the next day. Obviously we watched the news and such for the weeks following to see what progressed but something happened four hours away from me and yes I feel terrible for the people whose lives were lost, but I did not do anything to even help my own country. And I am not saying I would never ever help out if something would happen again, but what can I do to help? I could volunteer my whole summer to go to Haiti but what could I honestly do to help? I am no doctor, I cannot lift heavy things, what could I possibly do to help????? I was considering for a while trying to go with some organization to help but when Ian came in to talk, I realized I would just be in the way. And not only would I be in the way, but hands down I could just not handle it. When he talked about the mass graves my heart literally skipped a beat; if I were to actually be there I would just lose it and just be a burden. Of course I want people who are qualified and such to go down to Haiti and help. Of course I want people to keep giving money to organizations who know what Haiti needs at the moment. But me? What can I do? I’m a twenty year old college student with no money. All I can really do I think is say that my parents gave a lot of money towards Haiti and that I honestly hope for the best. When you say that we are more worried about taking a test than what is happening in Haiti, that kind of rubs me the wrong way. It does because what else am I supposed to do? Worry myself to death about all of the lives lost? If I were to drop what I am doing every time something happens in the world, I would not still be in college. There is a point where if you are not directly affected by something that happened in the world, of course you can feel sorrow for what happened, but I cannot let it affect my everyday life and what I have going. It may sound selfish, but I do not know what else I could do.
Unfortunately, I think that the tragedy in Haiti is a similar situation to September 11th, Hurricane Katrina or even the tsunami a few years back in Thailand. International attention is immediately focused on the devastated area, and the whole world seems to come together to mourn. People try to see what they can send or donate to help at first, but unless they are directly affected, everyone goes back to life as normal. While I understand that the people of Haiti need the help and support of the rest of the world to get back on their feet, but I also think it’s understandable how people who are “unaffected” go on with their lives as usual shortly after a tragedy occurs.
The disheartening fact is that many people don’t give to help Haiti because they are not directly affected by the events that took place in this small, distant nation. Think about it…would many of the people in class donated any money to Haiti had Sam not said something. The sad and realistic answer is no. It’s terrible, but many people don’t care because it isn’t affecting their everyday lives. Additionally, I believe people don’t give support because they simply choose to ignore the events that took place. When you ignore things like this, the suffering and destruction become someone else’s problem. Others fall victim to the “Bystander Affect”. This term refers to the idea that people don’t help others because they think other people will step in and do the work that they could easily do themselves. It’s a plain shame!
In this world people do not know what they have until they lose it. People cannot care about others if those 'others' are not directly in their lives we can sympathize but that's pretty much it. Unfortunately that is how some people work in this world. Maybe those have lost loved ones in 9/11 or in some other accident know and understand those pains. Maybe those who have worried about having enough food on the table, could understand their pain.But if people put themselves in the shoes of those Haitians who have lost loved ones and have no money to feed their children or themselves, they would not continue eating their dinners after hearing about this tragedy they would probably try looking for the next flight to Haiti.
However not everyone in the world is like this, for example I would love to go down to Haiti and lend a helping hand however helping costs money and I do not have the money to buy a ticket to Haiti and have enough money to maintain myself for however long I would like to stay. In Tuesday's lecture we were asked that if we wanted to help, we could put our name and email address down for more information. So I guess I just have to wait and see what they tell me. Until then I just hear about all the stuff that is going on down there, feel compassion and then go about my daily life.
Although we are all a part of one world, it is easy to focus on what is right in front of you and see the world in a close view. It is also easy to overlook or forget certain disasters, such as the earthquake in Haiti because the media is quick paced, constantly focusing on the next big disaster or issue. The media also prefers to package stories in a way that allows for a beginning, middle and end. The media breaks a story, assesses the situation and seems to try and end on a positive note, with success stories. The media does not want to keep coming back to Haiti if it will not pique audience interest. The bottom line is audiences prefer a happy story, rather than a seemingly hopeless one. The media is a business, and the news filtered through must be more questioned. In today’s world with 24/7 access to information, it is kind of amazing what does and does not reach an audience. If Sam did not remind us of how Haiti will never be the same, it is unlikely that I would fully understand the depth of the situation. That is not to say that I would not think back to the disaster and feel sadness, but I would not understand the ripple effect of this truly devastating occurrence. When people do not understand the depth of a problem, it is easy to look the other way and go on with life. As a culture, we are pretty desensitized to violence and death. It seems statistics have taken a hold of coverage, rather than in depth analysis of where exactly these numbers come from. I’m a communications major and became alarmingly awareness of this freshman year in a journalism class. We discussed the ethics of publishing a picture of a car accident. The picture showed a mangled car, and a figure in the front seat. The figure was a man who had died in the accident. The implications of publishing such a photo were various, but one was how the family may feel upon seeing the photo. To readers, this was just another car accident, a statistic. To the family of the man who passed away, it was their father, brother, uncle, son, photographed, lifeless. To the family, their lives would be forever changed. To the public, this was an explanation as to why there was traffic at 7 pm on an expressway. This is neither positive nor negative, as the function of the media is to be gatekeepers of information to the public. Each news story cannot delve into the implications of each incident, accident or disaster. The media by nature can only give a snapshot of reality to the public. This leaves the real investigative work up to the viewer. I say this with myself included, it is easier to move on without full understanding of a situation that it is to take time to understand the implications of an event. It is easier to know that something horrible happened and send money to aid a situation, than it is to venture to say, Haiti, and fully grasp what must be done to rectify the situation. I’ve learned from this class that we must just not stay current on current events, but stay current on past events to have a full grasp of reality.
In this world people do not know what they have until they lose it. People cannot care about others if those 'others' are not directly in their lives, we can sympathize but that's pretty much it. Unfortunately that is how some people work in this world. Maybe those have lost loved ones in 9/11 or in some other accident know and understand those pains. Maybe those who have worried about having enough food on the table could understand their pain. But if people put themselves in the shoes of those Haitians who have lost loved ones and have no money to feed their children or themselves, they would not continue eating their dinners after hearing about this tragedy they would probably try looking for the next flight to Haiti.
However not everyone in the world is like this, for example I would love to go down to Haiti and lend a helping hand however helping costs money and I do not have the money to buy a ticket to Haiti and have enough money to maintain myself for however long I would like to stay. In Tuesday's lecture we were asked that if we wanted to help, we could put our name and email address down for more information. So I guess I just have to wait and see what they tell me. Until then I just hear about all the stuff that is going on down there, feel compassion and then go about my daily life.
A lot of people died in Haiti and are continuing to die every day. I have never thought of Haiti, heard of Haiti, nor do I know anything about it including its location. To be honest I didn’t even hear about the disaster the day it happened, I wasn’t aware until about two days later because I decided to pick up a newspaper. I am not too sure how I feel about the whole situation; I will try to not seem too cold about it. This disaster was horrifying, tragic, and life changing for those people in Haiti. My remorse for those who died, those who suffered, and those who lost family and friends, and those who remained trapped for days is immense. People never think about things like this until after they happen. However, as a student I cannot afford to personally go there and help. We also heard that the money being donated in a way is hurting the country because it is being used in the wrong way so what are we to do. It is very true that people easily forget about things like this. How could people not? Especially something that is not in our country, something that really has little connection to our lifestyle. I don’t think that anybody needs to feel bad for continuing on with their lives. Why would people choose to sit around and mourn instead of going on with their everyday life? It is a lot easier to just forget, who wants to sit down and think about all the stuff that is going on? All the people dying, all the sadness, no one really. I feel that if you can make a difference, or have the potential to make a difference you should. However I do not feel that it is necessary to sit around and think about disasters like this all the time, things that do not directly correlate to your everyday life , instead of going out and continuing to live your life. If you can help, that’s great! Do whatever you can, in this case I am far from Haiti and have never even heard of it I do not feel I need to let it affect my life. I donated money to help and left it at that. My opinion might sounds cruel but this is just how I feel. Haiti was one of the poorest countries in the World, and from what Sam said that is the United States’ fault from a long time ago. Pumping all this money into it now when they have nothing to do with it and are using it in a way that isn’t benefiting anyone in the long run seems like a waste to me. People need to collaborate and come together, this is the only way to help. People that can help great, keep helping, others who cannot I feel should continue on with their lives and not feel guilty about it.
I think you've raised some great questions here. Questions that made me think for awhile about the disaster in Haiti and what we heard in class on Tuesday. Do we have a responsibility to help? I think we do. It's easy to sit here and do nothing though and continue going on with our lives. But it's not difficult to do something that makes a difference. Like Ian said, it's easier to make a bigger difference in a country that so desperately needs help and aid. At the very least, Haiti's unfortunate and dire situation should remind us to be thankful for what we have, for the luxuries in our life (like running water, grocery stores around the corner, and a place to sleep at night) and maybe to share some of our relative wealth. I think part of the reason why people read about these catastrophic events in the news or online and say, "oh my god, that's horrible," but then continue on with their lives is because they've never known or seen such a disaster or have seen how it directly affects them. It can be hard sometimes to see a direct relation as to how something like this affects us. But I think Tuesdays class helped put it into perspective for me, at least. When I found out that the aid money that the U.S. is sending is really just benefiting our own economy I was a little shocked. Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world, and the U.S. one of the wealthiest, if not the most wealthy. And like Sam said, the people in the lowest 10% of socioeconomic status here in the U.S. are still better off than the people in Haiti.
I think one of the problems is that so many Americans have the view from their microcosm and can only think about what is happening in the present day. I think people also have trouble putting themselves in another person's shoes. Yes, it can be hard to think about what it would be like if suddenly 300,000 Americans were killed here in the U.S. because of an Earthquake and that we didn't have any food or fresh water to drink. But think about how we felt on 9/11 or after Hurricane Katrina. Do you think people felt more empathy for those injured and killed in the attacks and the natural disaster here than they do for the victims in Haiti? I think that people become desensitized to "giving" towards a problem that probably will take decades to solve, ie. hunger in Africa or rebuilding Haiti. People are much more willing write a check now and say, "Ok, this solves an imminent problem and I did my part." The only people who can truly say how horrible these events are, are those who have had family or close friends directly involved. But in any event, we should all try our best to imagine ourselves in that situation and think about the Golden Rule that Same talked about.
300,000. The number is certainly staggering, but to be frank? I hadn't even taken notice of it until Tuesday's lecture. Numbers are thrown at us constantly, and to me, they've lost their meaning. Numbers can be big or small, far or close, and I still have issues grasping onto them.
This is I don't get about pulling out a figure like 300,000: people die every single day, in countless tragic (and natural) ways. Suicides, gang warfare, natural deaths–they all occur. They're, all just as sad, just as tragic, as any other death. They're all lost life. If we mourned every single death of every single individual, then we'd literally never stop mourning. Now, I'm not saying that 300,000 deaths in one place isn't significant–a number like that completely changes the culture and the lives of the people in that area–but I don't think it's fair to throw a number at us to explain why it's significant. Yes,the deaths are sad, but it's the annihilation of a lifestyle that's tragic. Every single person in Haiti was affected by the earthquake–every single person's life was dramatically altered. I think it's the destruction of the culture that's the cause for alarm.
Yes, it's our job to help them rebuild, but it's not our job to mourn for them. To be shocked, to be sad, to want to help–yes. But to mourn? I think mourning for someone you don't know can be shallow, can demean the process. Rather than mourning a loss that may not be ours, I think we should focus on helping the people who remain.
…but, okay, I have another question about Tuesday's lecture. Do we really just help other people because, ultimately, it's beneficial to ourselves? I've been thinking a lot about this issue recently (specifically in regard to Ayn Rand's philosophy of objectivism — admittedly, I have never read any of her work and only know fragments of her thoughts, so please forgive me in advance for butchering any of the concepts she presents), and I think it comes down to fundamental ideas about our individual purpose on the earth. Should my goal be to manipulate the system to best serve my needso? To just be happy? Or to give to others–to give myself and to contribute directly to the people around me?
I tend to believe in the last one. I have no idea what'll happen when I die. Eventually, the earth will end (the sun will explore, or global warming will destroy the planet, or what have you). Every single book, every building, every dollar bill, everything physical will be gone. I don't have particular religious beliefs, but the only thing that I think has any type of potential permanence is energy–souls, I guess. So, the way I see it is if I can contribute positivesly to both my energy and the energy of other, then that's more lasting than anything else I can do with my life.
But is it all just about benefiting ourselves, in the end? Is that ultimately why we help others?
Tuesday’s lecture about the devastating tragedy that recently occurred in Haiti was truly an eye opener for me. It’s one thing to hear about it on the news and read articles about it, but actually seeing the pictures and hearing the raw/personal stories from someone who went to the country and experienced the aftermath first hand, really put things in a totally new perspective for me. The moment that the picture was shown in which the man was standing on the pile of dead bodies in mourning, I was completely lost for words. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before, and my heart genuinely broke for the country and those who were affected by the natural disaster. It’s one of those things were I knew it was bad, but I didn’t realize HOW BAD it actually was; simply hearing the total death count sent chills up my body. Sitting in on that lecture really made me want to become more proactive and look into more ways in which I could do something to help. One thing that was brought up in lecture that I think the public needs to become much more aware of, is how the donations (texts donating money, water, food, etc.) can be counterproductive in getting the country to progress and move towards rebuilding their lives. If more people realized that this could ultimately make Haiti dependent/beggars, maybe they would better research organizations, which could lead to them actually learning more about the situation as opposed to sending a text message and forgetting about it the next day.
In lecture, someone brought up the fact that as soon as the earthquake in Chile occurred, the media’s focus on Haiti diminished little by little each day there after. Obviously, we live in the United States, so the vast majority of information we get about what’s going on in the world around us comes directly from the mass media.
That being said, I think the part of the problem with this whole issue with regards to the public’s responsibility to Haiti, lies within the media and whether or not they are genuinely doing their job of informing and educating us on ALL of the important things going on in the world. I’m not saying that the media should take all the accountability in the situation, because I do think that society needs to take matters into their own hands and put forth additional effort. However, I can’t help but wonder where our priorities lie when the top headlines are Larry King’s divorce, Tiger Woods’ affairs, which celebrities broke up, etc. When the media stops covering these stories we seem to forget about their existence. We forget that even though the papers/news stops covering it, the situation still exists and people are still struggling.
I feel guilty admitting it, but previous to Tuesday’s class, I hadn’t thought about the earthquake in Haiti for a while. I’m not trying to make excuses for myself, but I have a busy schedule and have barely had time for myself this past semester. In addition to preparing for graduation in May and figuring out what I’m going to do come a month or so, I have a full class schedule, job applications/interviews, a part-time job, homework, studying, clubs, etc. to worry about. It’s not that I don’t care about Haiti, because I do. I get emotional even thinking about what these people are going through. I’m from Long Island and when 9/11 happened I knew many people that lost their lives. The experience was life changing and I struggled with the aftermath for a long time afterwards. Considering MANY more people died in Haiti, I can only imagine what life is like there right now. We all lead very different lives filled with very different responsibilities, and unfortunately, unless things directly affect us personally we tend to push them aside and treat them as less of a priority.
In this world people do not know what they have until they lose it. People cannot care about others if those ‘others’ are not directly in their lives we can sympathize but that’s pretty much it. Unfortunately that is how some people work in this world. Maybe those have lost loved ones in 9/11 or in some other accident know and understand those pains. Maybe those who have worried about having enough food on the table, could understand their pain.But if people put themselves in the shoes of those Haitians who have lost loved ones and have no money to feed their children or themselves, they would not continue eating their dinners after hearing about this tragedy they would probably try looking for the next flight to Haiti.
However not everyone in the world is like this, for example I would love to go down to Haiti and lend a helping hand however helping costs money and I do not have the money to buy a ticket to Haiti and have enough money to maintain myself for however long I would like to stay. In Tuesday’s lecture we were asked that if we wanted to help, we could put our name and email address down for more information. So I guess I just have to wait and see what they tell me. Until then I just hear about all the stuff that is going on down there, feel compassion and then go about my daily life.
This is an interesting idea. I had never really thought about it before, and while yes hearing that 300,000 people died does affect me and I am sad and left feeling helpless, it does not affect me in the same way as the death of someone in my family, or someone I knew well would. I am able to push it out of my mind and focus on other things for hours on end, but would be completely unable to do so had someone I knew died. But how can we feel that connected to something that we are so unfamiliar with? Familiarizing ourselves with it after helps to some degree, but I feel like it's impossible to feel the same emotions towards people you never knew compared with people you know well and love. You can help those people out, and you should most definitely want to and follow through with it, but you don't have the same connection. Is there a way to acquire this? I don't know, I don't really think there is.
part 1: When there is a national tragedy, everyone stops and notices for a day or two, but people will move on and still go to work laugh and live their lives normally. It’s important that people acknowledge when something horrible happens; however it doesn’t mean that everyday must be spent in constant misery and sorrow. Someone in my high school had a father who died in the September 11th attacks. He would see that day differently that other people because he was directly affected. I sound horrible probably, but I’m just saying that’s how most people see it. When we lose a sibling or a parent personally, our lives are never the same because a big part of it is gone forever. There is going to be a myriad of more tragedies in this world, but if everyone lets these events ruin every minute of their lives, no one would ever be happy.
part 2: There should always be a few days of mourning, but every day is a new day; a new day to move on. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe every single day should be spent mourning those who died in the tsunami and the earthquake in Haiti. But it really shouldn’t. Death is inevitable for all of us at some point. No one can just live forever, although I don’t think anyone would really want. There probably will be a judgment day some day, but probably not in our lifetime right now. The day the world ends would be considered something that would be upsetting for an extended period of time, but that won’t happen. Or ironically it will happen in 2012 so we can all kick the director’s ass who made the movie last year. Americans are self centered in general, we all know that. There is a lot of people who didn’t even acknowledge the tragedy in Haiti. I donated multiple times, but I’m not sitting in my room now thinking about how horrible it is still. Maybe I’m one of those non-caring Americans.
part 3: But is it really selfish to say that I care more about my own family than others. Family comes first, or at least it should to most people; even though it doesn’t. Every creature on the earth shows compassion, dogs cry, and animals know when they’ve lost something dear to them. But when a lion is walking through the plains of Africa and sees 5 dead lions, he won’t do a double take. Human beings are more complex, but still; people save their sadness emotion for their own personal use with people in their own lives. That’s the way it should be. Getting over a loss of a loved one is one of the hardest things to do in the world, and if everyone in the world got THAT upset about everything bad that happens in the world; this would be one sad depressing planet.
I think it is easy to distance yourself from situations that you never have to see. Everyday there are bombings in Iraq that kill groups of people, but we don’t look twice at the headline. Meanwhile, there is an explosion in a mine in West Virginia and America stops to help. I’m not saying that this is a bad thing, but it’s just not a prevalent thing. Ultimately, people are concerned with the things that will directly influence them. In the case of the Haiti earthquake, people either don’t realize how it affects them or realize that it really doesn’t affect them. These scenarios rely on people helping because they want to help, not because they need to. Unfortunately, there aren’t that many people that feel that want.
I totally agree with the person that made the question. We should help, not only because it is "one world", but also because it happened 1 hour away from Miami. For those of you who do not know where Haiti is… is not too far away from the borders of the US. As part of a big country and the largest economy in the world, people should feel responsible for the people in need. If we have the ability, we have the responsibility. There are many ways in which people could help in Haiti, there are no excuses and it will makes us happy. Does everyone agree with me? Who thinks that we do not need to help poor countries like Haiti? and Why?
I took a class about environmental tourism and global citizenship. I feel this issue has a lot to do with being a global citizen. I think many people have the opinion that when tragedy strikes another country, it is their problem and not ours. But we have to realize we are all connected. We are all humans. And yes we have our country, and yes we can take pride in our country and our people, but we a cannot forget and turn our heads to others who need help (especially when we are in the position/have the ability to help). A lot of people in this world don’t see it that way, and it is unfortunate.
Sometimes I feel that a number, especially, a big number like 300,000 does not do justice to the actual human loss. Each person was an individual. Each person was a mother, father, sister, brother, etc. I think that this point is overlooked sometimes during these massive tragedies. The tsunami was another example of this. We are farther removed from these tragedies because they are not happening here in America. I understand this, but I think that we should at least stop and think about the actual human loss from time to time. It is easy to donate ten dollars, and it’s a good thing. I just think we have to make ourselves realize what actually happened down there.
I think this question can go in many directions and could be looked at it many different ways. I don’t think that Sam or Ian, whoever made this statement, meant it to mean that people think tests are more important than helping others or anything of the sort. Yes, many people, myself included, get very stressed and caught up in grades and what the transcripts say. In some sense, this is important. In todays world you cannot get too far without having qualifications that make you “more attractive” than others who are competing for the same position. Sometimes the transcripts do matter, but I think from a larger picture…who you are as a person is much more important. What this video is saying is partly true in a sense, and yes I do think that there probably should be a lot more people helping out in Haiti than there are, but then it just comes back to the problem that was discussed in class – some of the people that are helping are not doing the right thing and are actually making the Haitian economy worse off. Obviously this is not the intention of those who want to help but if one person dropped what they were doing for every individual who was killed, there would be 300 thousand MORE people in Haiti…causing more problems. So maybe 1 helping hand for each death is an extreme but even if 150,000 individuals were sent, it is hard to tell if the economy would thrive or not. I am not at all saying that Haiti does not need help or anything of that sort, they most definitely do, but they need the RIGHT help and sometimes not all individuals are qualified for that and therefore they do continue to just live their own lives and do what they need to do. Another way to look at it then is what about the other countries who are struggling in other ways. If we go all in and help out as much as we can for one country, in a sense we are leaving behind and forgetting about others. Some may say none of it is our responsibility and that Haiti is worse off but in a sense you can never please everyone. Someone will always need help, every economy will always be struggling and someone will let every world issue pass them by and not have a care in the world but their own. In the end I think it comes down to the following, the girl is completely right that if one of my family members died, I would most definitely take time off and do anything I could to help with the situation. However, I also can be placed under the category to just take my test and move on because I may not be the most qualified in skills to be the right kind of help in a place such as Haiti.
It think it is really difficult for Americans to feel something about people that are not close to them. It hits home when it is someone you know or even when it occurs in your own country. But when disasters happen to other people all over the world it is difficult to mourn someone you feel you have no connection to. I am not saying this is fair or ok, but it is the way it works. In a country of such fast paced lives it is difficult to just stop for a minute and think about the other people in the world, even if something as terrible as the earthquake in Haiti happens.
I do agree with this girl, it is hard to see why, most of the time, we escape devastation and a lot of the pain that exists in the world is thrust upon other people. A few years ago I would have completely agreed with this statement regarding the affect of a natural disaster or any other attack; if it affected me personally it would have had a much bigger effect on my life than just being aware of another disaster that took place somewhere around the world.
This is not the first time in the history of my life, at a time when I have been aware of what goes on in the world that 300,000 people have died. People have heard about and talked about all those suffering in Darfur and in other areas of the world where people are constantly dying. It is true that these issues come to the surface now and again, but most of the time they are of unimportance to us and the things that affect us directly, like a test or a quiz, become more important than the lives of others.
Currently, where I stand in life, I feel that I am lucky enough to empathize with all people, not only those who are closely connected with me. I think it is safe to assume that many people, especially those wrapped in the college lifestyle, are still in the position of life to feel and think in a more selfish matter, which is perfectly acceptable. It takes time and learning, about yourself and others, to know that you can empathize and feel for people other than yourself or those closely connected to you. I, luckily, have had the influence of many knowledgeable people to grow in a way that I could not have without their influence.
I feel that most people will sit through Sam’s class and think that they need to do something because they have that ability. The sad thing that will come of this is that most of these people won’t do anything. They will feel some sort of way about something, but that is all it will become; they will never do anything with those feelings.
In regards to the others, the ones who don’t move on, the ones that have situations affect our lives; it is not so easy to get out there and save the world; believe me I have tried. I have been accepted to a long term volunteer program at an orphanage in South Africa with disadvantaged children, but because I do not have the funds, I cannot make the trip and help others. Sometimes people want to help, but sometimes they just can’t.
I understand where the girl is coming from in this question, of why don’t we care when a huge number of people die, yet if someone close to us dies we stop whatever we are doing. I just feel as if people are never really going to care about something if it doesn’t touch home with them or they have no personal connection with it. If one person dies, and that person had a huge impact on your life of course you are going to feel some type of way. However if 300,000 people who you never met before die, it probably won’t make a difference to you, because it doesn’t hit home with you, they had nothing to do with anything I have done in my life why should I care about them.
I wish people did not think this way, but that lack of a personal connection is what truly keeps people who are away from a natural disaster from truly feeling the pain of those experiencing or directly affected by these disasters. However it is completely understandable for someone who has no true connection with the situation.
For me personally when I first found about 9/11 I was like that’s terrible, and I did not realize that my aunt worked at the World Trade Centers, so I was just like wow that sucks, but once I found out that my aunt worked there it hit home with me and I was immediately put onto a completely higher level of worry about the situation. I found out that she wasn’t at work when it happened, but that situation right there was a time when the personal part of something truly showed me how much more I care when it touches me personally.
Also with the tragedy in Haiti I remember at the beginning of the semester I felt terrible about it, and wanted to donate and do what I could to help, but seeing it on CNN and understanding the destruction was what really made me want to help, however I know If I had family or close friends down there when it happened I would have done so much more to help out with it. CNN and other channels showed the destruction and pain that people were in, which helped to personalize it to me and made me willing to give more money to the cause, and also see what I can do to help with the devastation.
The main point I have been trying to make is just that things will always matter more if you are personally affected, whether it is that one person that you know and love or those 300,000 innocent bystanders you never met, you will most likely care more about that 1 person and not the 300,000 other people.
I think the fact that human beings are able to deal with the knowledge that we will all die and that our deaths may follow that of our loved ones is an amazing feat. How does one get up every morning just knowing that parents, children, spouses and friends are all dying? We just do not know the timing. When we do suffer the inevitable loss we take time off school or work to deal with the emotional turmoil. Eventually, we get back to our normal lives. It is incredible that people have the ability to revitalize their emotions, when at the time we face our personal losses we feel we will never recover. When we hear of natural disasters and the loss of many lives I think we all suffer but are able to segregate those feelings from the more intense feelings that concern those who are more personal to us. This is probably a good thing. Otherwise we would be mourning every day and we would never actually have the opportunity to live.
I think the main reason that I am less affected by the tragedy in Haiti is basically because it is so distant from my own reality. I have never experienced a third world country or anything significantly different from my comfortable, suburban hometown. My life has been pretty free of tragedy and hardship so, for myself, it’s hard to understand the magnitude of what has happened in Haiti. I, like most other people, have only seen images on TV and the Internet but clearly that does not what is actually going on any justice. I think it is really unfortunate that more people can’t experience the situation first hand because then I think people would get it. People would be directly affected and more likely to care about what is still going on there. That’s not to say that people who haven’t traveled to Haiti don’t care. I mean I think I care about the people there but obviously not as much as some other people. For me personally, it’s difficult to take myself out of the moment and focus on other people. Honestly, it’s hard for me to think about Haiti when I have a huge Stat exam in the morning. I feel like it’s that way for a lot of college students. We are self-centered people and tend to think of what is best for ourselves and not what is best for those around us. That being said, I know that if there was a natural disaster or tragedy that happened in American we would all be willing to get on the plane and help our fellow Americans. We would do this because one, the disaster would be hitting closer to home and two, we are fiercely patriotic people who tend to jump to other Americans aide when needed. Look at how people responded after September 11 or Hurricane Katrina. We aren’t used to seeing one another suffer on such a large scale and I think that is why people are so quick to lend a hand to those in America. I wish there was a way to allow everyone to experience the devastation that would have more impact. It is definitely important to continue to have speakers and presentation on Haiti because even though it happened several months ago, the destruction is going to last a long time. People need to keep Haiti in their minds and even if it didn’t happen in their backyard it still happened. America is so much better off then countries like Haiti and I think that we need to use this to help others. I hope that in the future I will be able to make a difference in someone’s life directly but for now I will have to settle for indirect impacts like donating money.
I understand what you are saying. It really is awful that something so massive can happen and everyone just goes on with their lives. But what would be the right thing to do? And how much time do we commit to doing the right thing? You proposed taking a year off if someone in your family died, but is that appropriate for someone you have never met? Where do we draw the line? I spent a couple of minutes each day reflecting about what happened any time I heard a mention of it. I donated some money. I wish I could have gone down there to help, but how can I leave my $40,000 education behind? I don’t think that it’s a bad thing to go on with your life if you’re unaffected by the tragedy. Sure, we are all one world and we should feel something when someone suffers, but when do you think it’s okay to stop feeling that sorrow?
So let’s say that you just found out your best friend’s cousin’s wife’s brother just died in a really tragic event. You’ve never met the guy before and don’t know a thing about him, other than what’s in the news and what your friend says about him. Would you really be as affected by his death as you would be if he were your own brother? Most people would feel some sort of sadness, but they are not going to take off a week and mourn for someone they don’t know. I think a lot of people do feel terrible about what happened in Haiti, but how can they stop their lives for people they don’t know? The best and most they can do is to make a few donations, think about what happened, and feel sorrowful. So although 300,000 people is a lot of people, if your life wasn’t personally changed by any one of them, then it’s doubtful that your life will change a whole lot when they are gone. It is a really sad way to think about it, but I don’t think that there is much more that people would want to do if they don’t have a direct association to the event.
College students have a harder time involving themselves in events such as Haiti, which is acceptable. It is a little selfish, but at this stage in our growth we are allowed to be selfish. We are trying to build our own lives, so it is hard to be affected by something we are unfamiliar with. Additionally, we don’t have many resources to effectively help out. Of course we all donate a few dollars, or maybe our time to a significant cause. We help the best we can. Taking a year off, or even a week off is really out of the question. We have invested time and thousands of dollars into our education, so how could we just leave for a week to mourn for people we don’t know?
I think that it’s sad that so many people, myself included, are so consumed with our own lives, that we give something like an earthquake that killed 300,000 so little of our time and thought. Yet, at the same time, I understand that in life, death and destruction is always all around us, on the news, in the newspapers, and just in life, that I feel like people become so use to hearing it that we've become less affected by these horrific events. However, I don't think that means it’s a good thing. I think that hearing lectures like the one about Haiti are good reminder of why it's so important to stop and think, and help, when something this awful happens to so many people. It’s easy to get sucked into our own lives, I completely understand that myself, yet I like being reminded that it’s not a good thing, so I can see why I do need to step out of the small bubble of my life and see and hear what else is going on.
What this girl said was very interesting and eye opening. She states that during the tragic earthquake in Haiti, 300,000 people died and unfortunately we as a country recognize and see there hardships, but really just continue on with our daily lives. She was saying we still go to class, we take our tests, and we go on with our day to day function without a care in the world since it did not hit us personally or affect anything around us. I am not sure if this is the same with other countries or just the U.S…But I definitely see what she is explaining. She then goes on to mention though, the different actions we would take had this happened in our country or had affected our family or friend. For example, if my entire family lived in Haiti and I was unable to get to the right away to see them, my daily routine would inherently be stopped. I would not be able to think about anything else besides the fact that my family was hurt or killed and helpless. And I think the feeling of helplessness would drive my life to stop the most. Being in a different country where it is expensive and hard to get to where your family may be provides a feeling of helplessness which I can’t imagine being faced with. I feel like if we do not have personal ties to a tragic event it often goes, not unnoticed, but it doesn’t really affect anything we do. Like we address the fact that Haiti is in a lot of despair and need, we will donate a few dollars to help them, but when it comes down to it, we’re okay because it doesn’t really have anything to do with us…It’s pretty sick if you think about it. In some defense, I would honestly love to go and help people in Haiti and I am know I am more financially set than they are, but I do not have the money or the means to do so. In class we were talking about how often times people like to volunteer in third world countries or places that really need the help because you can see immediate results. Often times people don’t want to volunteer for example, back in America when they can be getting noticed and see real change when they volunteer in Haiti. It is such a weird balance I guess that must happen. You must have empathy for people who are suffering even though they are worlds apart. I feel like if you are unable to go to these other countries then donating a few dollars here or volunteering a few hours there will help the cause and allow you to slowing chip in at making a difference.
I think most people felt terrible about this awful tragedy. I mean people picture themselves in that situation and see them losing their families. People feel compassion for the victims and want to help. However, I think we (United States citizens) would be more affected if we were more emotionally attached like if the earthquake happened in America. Not that we don’t feel any emotion for the people of Haiti, but we would be more effected if the earthquake happened on our own soil. I think back to September 11 or Hurricane Katrina and how that affected us more and how we reacted compared to the earthquake in Haiti. As bad as a tragedy as both these events were, they did bring us so much closer together as a nation.
She brings up an intriguing point in how if it affected us personally, we would help out or try to do something to relieve the pain. 300,000 people are a lot of people and this is something that needs to be taken in by everyone. If I had family over there, I would be more in touch with this tragedy than I am right now. I knew it was something big when I saw the devastation and the amount of people affected by this earthquake. After this lecture, this Haiti tragedy really hit me and made me think that no matter how distant something like this happens, anything that you can do to help out, you should do it.
Yeah I totally agree with you. People die everyday for a lot of reasons, and we just don't care about it. I mean, we do care about it. At least we sigh at some point, or we chatted with our friends about it just as some news. We seldomly shake our hearts for that. We seldomly have some sort of connection in heart with those families who lost members in the wars, in earthquakes, in floods…etc. I think it is our responsibility to help those who have lost families. We should share our hearts with them. We should do something, instead of just watch TV and talk about it as if it is just yesterday's movie show. .
I honestly think part of us "moving on" is that Americans have become numb to the death of a human life. We watch the news and we hear about the murders and other deaths that have occurred the night before and we just pass it off. We also watch the shot em up movies and horror films and think nothing of it. I think this directly plays a role in Americans not valuing lives as much or at least becoming numb to the situation of death. If it is not right in our faces we just pass it off and move on with our lives like nothing happen. I don't know why this is the case but it seems to be a growing trend.
I think there are two ways to answer this question. First of all, yes it is a tragedy when so many people in the world get killed, and yes they may be far away, but I do not agree with the idea that there is nothing we can do. I think the outlook that people have that there is nothing that we can do is the problem and main reason as to why many people do not do anything. We all know from history that whether good or bad, one person can make a huge difference, Hitler is a great example for that.
Personally, in a situation like this, specifically for our class I believe that the best way to help is to do whatever we can, meaning given the opportunity to donate money to a trustworthy person, we should do it. If you really do care, when Sam offers you the opportunity to help out by donating money, you should take it. In another sense, you can use your expertise or even just volunteer. When the tsunami hit, my sister, a dentist went over to one of the tragedy sites and helped to identify bodies using teeth records. My father, who works in wholesale, went to dedicate his time and effort into just cleaning up the area and helping to distribute aid. I do not believe that people are unable to help out if they are not experts in medical fields. Every hand makes a difference.
Now the other side of this clearly is, what can you do if you're so far away? If a tragedy struck in Indonesia, would people from England be of any use if they travelled there? Would they be able to even afford it? In situations like this I believe that one person can start to make a difference but must gather an entire group to actually carry out anything worthwhile. If that one person chose to gather a group of volunteer medical staff I am sure that he or she would have no trouble getting a group of 4-5 willing people. All he or she would have to do is organize the trip and maybe fundraise for the trip, and honestly that is already making a difference.
Overall, I just believe that to make the world a better place, a positive outlook is the first thing we each all need to have.
I think that this girl who asks this question has a very strong point. Why do we not care about these big tragedies when they directly dont affect us? I think that people in this world should make more of an effort to feel for others when they are going through hard and sad times. People are so caught up in their everyday life that they dont even realize how others are affected and are feeling. And if the roles were reversed, we would want to take off time to grieve and morn, but others handle their situations accordingly. I just believe that we as people living should feel for others more who are going through a much harder time, and not wait until it directly affects us.
Everybody has heard of the disaster that occurred in Haiti earlier this year. However, I never realized how many people were actually affected by the earthquake that hit the small country. When I heard that there were about 300,000 people who were killed in the earthquake and even more displaced from the damages, I was very alarmed. It is crazy that in the United States, we suffered a loss of about 3,000 people from the September 11, 2001 terroristic attacks. I remember that when this attack happened, everybody in the country was affected. People could not believe what had happened and were shocked that something like that could even occur in our supposedly safe country. People stopped everything they were doing to throw their support behind our country and to help clean up and fix the mess that was created in New York City. It is somewhat confusing as to why an event that was one hundred times more destructive than the United States crisis received much less aid and support from people around the world. There are nearly two and a half million people who have been displaced because of the earthquake, and people can barely survive. I’m somewhat confused as to why more people haven’t lent a hand to help those victims. Things are only getting worse as the Haitian people aren’t receiving enough aid to survive. In their present condition, they have close to nothing to help them live. I couldn’t imagine living on top of rocks, which used to be my house several months prior to the event. I think that many people in the Soc119 class realized the severity of the disaster after the class designated to Haiti. After sitting through that lecture, I don’t think that anybody left the class with the same mindset. People saw the true disaster with real pictures taken by our guest speaker. I couldn’t imagine the September 11th attacks happening and the United States not doing anything to help clean up or fix the mess. However, in Haiti, the disaster is so large that people don’t even know where to begin and it will cost enormous amounts of money to even put a dent in the cleaning process. There is so much ruble that has accumulated from the earthquake and people haven’t even begin to clear out the mess so that they could get on the right path to fixing their struggling nation. I was also alarmed when I saw pictures of their parliamentary building, similar to our white house. People must be devastated to know that their government is even in shambles. I’m not sure what it would be like if our central location for government actions to take place was destroyed.
For me the whole problem seems to big and to serious to handle. I know that seems like I don't care but I just can't fathom the vast loss of life or how that would affect my life if that happened here. I remember 9/11 and that was 3,000 people but we rose in a united outrage yes it was an attack but still we should have the same horrified reaction to the loss whether it's natural or man made. I just can't wrap my mind around the number and feel like it has an impact on my day, I feel sorry and sad for the people who lost loved ones and the dead but I think if I truly felt anything outside of pity it would be at least it wasn't here or anyone I know. that may sound like I'm cold hearted and evil but I really don't think that I'm really all that different from anyone else I hate the idea of death and destruction man made or not but I can't feel like the worlds problems are all mine to deal with. so if I could I would go and help with the worlds problems but I can't even help with donations right now. I think we could all take a few days to give back but for now I don't see any way the deaths of so many could affect me on a personal level, if that makes me a bad person then I'm sorry.
This question, “What does 300,000 really mean to us?” really resonated with me. That is almost 7 Penn State University Park campuses!!!
I think that it is amazing that Haiti news only was on the news for a few weeks at most and even after a few days, people considered it old news and past information. Even though the earthquake is over and the destruction has occurred does not mean that the situation in Haiti has diminished or ended. On the contrary, the disaster and worst part of it all is simply beginning. Homeless families with no shelter, food, education, government, clothing, or jobs are stranded out in what is now a barren land with no organization or control. It is pure chaos gripped with uncertainty of how life will continue in Haiti.
Because I have not visited Haiti, I can only view pictures and hear stories of the destruction and civil unrest. Then I imagine if I were in their shoes. I would have absolutely nothing. 300,000 people just died around me? How is that even a tangible number to inscribe in my brain? The problem is that it is not tangible, and I will never be fully aware of the gravity of the situation because I become preoccupied with my own life as a college student, daughter, friend, and cousin to so many people. Their small daily activities consume my life and allow me to forget the big picture and what is currently happening in my world, even if certain events do not directly affect me. It is easy for someone to say, “Oh, that’s unfortunate,” and move on with their lives after handing a dollar bill to a Haiti relief fund. It is also easy to say that our country is still thriving so why should we really care about others? Do not people forget that we are all humans? We are all a part of this world, despite our language barriers, our skin differences, and our cultures and ethnicities? We are united in the stride for survival, the need for love and compassion to break down our walls. We need to care for the other person as we would hope he or she would do the same for us. We are all bound by egocentrism as individualistic peoples. However, we need to experience enthocentricism and the opportunities it creates for us to open our minds and hearts to our fellow brothers and sisters on this Earth. Once we are able to open our minds in this light, we can feel a heart pouring desire to help each other. Communication, dedication, and love are the ingredients needed to establish peace between our nations. Let’s ignore those barriers and help the Haitians and others in our world.
You bring up a good point. It doesn’t make sense. How can people go on with their normal, care-free lives when 300,000+ people were just killed or displaced in Haiti. Thinking about that to me is like thinking about the concept of death, or the concept of an infinite universe. The more I think about it and the more I try to make sense of it, the more I just don’t get it and the more frustrated I become. It is so easy – too easy – for people to care for a few moments, maybe send a $10 text to the Red Cross, and then wake up the next day and not let the thought of 300,000 people cross their mind once. It’s just easier on the human psyche to not think about it because no one wants to deal with it.
Disasters happen each and every year, almost on a monthly basis. Although they are not usually of the magnitude of the earthquake in Haiti, they still happen. How many people remember the tsunami that hit American Samoa, the Minneapolis bridge collapse, or the major tsunami that hit Indonesia in 2004 (which interestingly enough killed more people than the Haitian earthquake according to up to date estimates)? There is a very good chance many people did not even know an earthquake occurred in Chile just over a month after the one in Haiti. I believe there are two reasons that people seem to not care about events such as these.
The first reason is our cultural focus on instant gratification. People in today's world, not limited to America alone, want things as quickly as they can get them. Consider the realm of social networking. MySpace came onto the scene some time before Facebook. It allowed users to view pictures of their friends and look up information about things they might currently be involved in. Facebook came next, providing users "real-time" updates with Facebook statuses. Facebook gives its users the capability to upload pictures from their phones or change their status from their mobile device, almost in real time. Following the pattern of condensing information came Twitter. Twitter is the most abbreviated form of social networking that exists. In simple, 140 character "tweets", users can glean information about what another individual is currently doing nearly at that moment. This instant gratification is not exclusive to social networking, look at everything in the world today; fast food, microwaveable meals, Penn State's ANGEL, 10 minute meals, 6 second abs (LOLZ). All of these things are examples of people getting things that they want, as fast as possible.
Ultimately, this desire has penetrated our news media. People want to hear the latest story. If it happened more than 24 hours ago, it's old news, time to bring on something more interesting. Within days of its occurrence, the Haitian earthquake took a backseat to domestic policy, ealthcare, and all sorts of other "breaking" news.
The second reason is because people actually do not care. Our culture as a collective is a very self-centered culture. This is a characteristic even I am guilty of, -especially- when living in the bubble that is Penn State. Many people in our country today think in a way such that if something does not directly affect them, they will likely pay it no mind. Unfortunately, there is no direct cure for this behavior. Only encouraging people to inform themselves about the world around them will eventually stop the problem. This is similar to the goal of Sam's class. By getting people to think about and be aware of these issues, they may one day be solved.
Three Hundred Thousand is a number. You hear numbers every day. Be it twelve soldiers dying in a suicide bombing or the three thousand that lost their lives on nine eleven. The number that should be looked at more closely is the number one. Each one of those three hundred thousand were individuals each had a family, a mother, a father, co workers, and friends. Each one of their lives was valuable to many other people. However, it is hard to care unless it directly impacts us. How were we affected by one of the greatest natural disasters that has ever taken place. I feel a lot more attention was given to the tsunami that happened in south east Asia. The earth quake there that created the huge waves killed two hundred thirty thousand individuals. However, we saw many images of the damage actually happen and the buildings being destroyed. We heard the many stories of Americans on vacation and about the huge wave that they saw coming. We heard of the scuba divers that had the waves go directly over them and still somehow survived. We heard of Petra Nemcova the swimsuit model that had to hang onto a tree for hours in order to survive, while her husband was not able to do so and passed away. I have yet to hear many of these types of stories from Haiti. I have not even seen many of the pictures of destruction. If Pittsburgh my hometown was devastated from a huge earthquake and three hundred thousand people died it would change my whole life. I would have to start over and rely on my friends and family for help. However, if many of them passed away I do not know what I would do. I do believe the United States and all of our citizens would be there for us though. I think there would be much more support than what has been done for Haiti. This is only natural, the United States is our home and we help those who are In need more than those of other countries. Also, in response to the video message left by the girl. You cannot live life in sorrow you have to live in happiness. You cannot mourn over people you do not even know that never had affected you in good ways. Live life to the fullest and enjoy what you have.
I think you summed up the problem yourself in the question, it happened somewhere else and it doesn’t directly affect us. I know that sounds callous, but that’s the honest to god truth. As we were shown in class, all the horrible images we might see on TV and on the news don’t compare to the reality of the situation, so it’s very hard for us here to truly appreciate what’s occurring. It really makes sense when you think about it. I mean, any given day of the year if you were to watch any news station long enough you are guaranteed to hear about a murder that happened somewhere in the US. The disaster in Haiti seems to be a similar situation on a much grander scale. Though a simplification certainly I think this metaphor works. In both cases we of course sympathize with the party being affected, and at times we wish to ourselves that there would be something we could do to help, but in the end we still go on with our daily routine. It’s because deep down we’re aware of the fact that we can’t allow ourselves to put our lives on hold every time a tragedy occurs somewhere in the world. That sounds bad, but I believe it’s just being realistic. The world we live in is constantly facing a new disaster or or slaughter each and every day. Throughout Africa for instance there have been a number of organized programs focused on the extermination of various ethnic groups. This has been going on since, what, we were in high school? I can’t imagine trying to refocus my life on helping groups out every time I heard of a new tragedy. Certainly some can and do, and I really respect that, but I have to be honest that I just can’t, nor do I think that most can. Sometimes we have to simply take reality in strides and accept that we live in an imperfect world and try to not let such tragedies ruin our lives.
With all that in mind, I can accept that this attitude can lead to a problem of apathy. And maybe that’s what was meant in the video to begin with. I don’t believe that there’s anything wrong with going with trying to go about your life amid foreign disasters, but I do see a problem with complete apathy. Basically after having seen so much wrong in the world it’s easy to start believing that nothing can be done, so it’s not even worth the effort of trying. This I believe is a major problem, as it’s that kind of attitude more than anything that keeps things from happening.
The farther removed you are from an incident, the less you feel connected to it. If those were 300,000 Americans that died, we would all feel more compelled to do something because we share a common nation, a common ideal. I don't think this makes us bad people, but it does open our eyes. Even putting it in perspective and relating it back to ourselves makes us realize what we can do and compels some of us to action. It is a very selfish tendency, but it is the result of our ethnocentric thinking. We cannot change how we are raised to think, but we can change the way we respond to this thinking.
I don’t think the point here is for anyone to stop their life, but maybe instead realize the struggles of other people. I mean sure 300.000 people died. These natural disasters happen every year. Why care? What can we do anyway? These are the thoughts of so many people in the United States. I mean I care a lot about what happened in Haiti and have participated in many fundraising projects for the relief efforts. The question that I think about is why do some people care and some people not? And the weirdest part of it all is that some of us genuinely care about other people and others do not.
When someone close to you passes, it is painful. It hurts. You don't grieve because you “should” grieve or that its expected for you to grieve. You had a strong emotional connection with that person and you just realized that person is no longer alive, and thats a very strong emotionally disturbing feeling. You do not choose to feel it. You just do. If you need to take time off it's not a vacation out of respect its time you need for the sake of your psychological welfare.
So, asking people to get upset over deaths in some other part of the globe is a nice ideal. It is nice to feel respect for other people. But it is also insincere. There is no one in Haiti or China I have a strong connection to. I can feel bad and donate money and time after these disasters but am I really that emotionally shaken? Honestly, not really. I think people that say that but do not know anyone there are really being insincere. I am not saying that I do not care. But, my life is going on with or without me. It's selfish for me to worry about my exams while people have recently died? Really? If I don't care about my exams I fail my classes and this entire college experience becomes pointless. I have a lot of pressure to do well and I do not have the luxury of being able to slack off so I can exaggerate how bad I feel about people dying hundreds of miles away. People die every day. Around 115 people die in car accidents everyday in the United States. In the time you have taken to do your race relations homework this week, a couple people have tragically lost their lives. Are you really immediately emotionally devastated?
A resounding theme I have seen in this class, especially in comments on this blog, is how people should or should not “feel bad.” Can someone explain to me how “feeling bad” helps or solves any issue? I really started noticing it during the native american discussions. People were discussing why everyone in the United States should “feel bad” because they are staying on native american land. Conversely, some argued that their ancestors were not in the United States at the time the land was taken so they did not, in fact, need to “feel bad.” Is that situation tragic? Sure. Are there important issues here that should be resolved? Sure. IS there something we can do? Maybe. Does that thing need to involve “feeling bad?” Why? This has got to be some of the most misguided discussions I have ever seen in my life.
I think this person makes a good point about our society and how people feel about each other in general. I was talking to someone the other day about the war and many other topics that result in human suffering and all but one of topics didn’t affect me directly (and the one that did affect me, is not really as serious as it does affect others). And somewhere in the conversation they asked me why do I care so much because they could see how the idea of people constantly hurting each other or not helping someone who is in trouble was upsetting me, and all I could think of was how could they not care, what is wrong with them.
The only answer that I could possibly think of is that I feel connected to every person in the world, I don’t have to know them, I’m not religious, they can come from totally different ancestry from different regions of the world from me, etc. and I will always care about what’s happening to them and how they got to that situation even if I will never agreed with them in anyway and I will not ever be able to meet them. I just don’t feel right, wasting my money on things I don’t need, I am pretty spoiled so I don’t see why I have any reason not to do something since I already care.
I asked the person why they don’t care and all they can say is it has nothing to do with me. So, I would I assume if their family were in this situation that they would not want, nor ask for any kind of help from a stranger. I can understand not wanted to help or not feeling obligated to help, but to not care, to not care is completely monstrous to me.
I can’t tell if it is pure laziness in those who do not see a reason to help and don’t want to even try, is it just a sick pessimistic attitude that they don’t think anything they do will make a difference, or are they are selfish and self-pitying.
One idea that I came up with on my own is that the only reason why some one be totally justified is that if they them selves are already impoverished, they simply cant even afford to give, or participate. Because of course realistically “some” students don’t receive help from their family to get through school and can’t simply leave. At the end of the day they would have to help them self before they would be able to help others.
An answer someone else gave to me was 300,000 seemed like just a number, simply too big for them to comprehend, especially when counting people. And they said it was only helpful when someone pointed out that a situation well known like 911 was only a couple thousand and was able to see the damage first hand and compared to the 300,000 people of Haiti they don’t see every day in the news, but its not in our country.
300,000 people dead are a lot of people. We cannot imagine the how vast of a number this is until we see it. A number is a number, but a picture says a thousand words. Imagine losing your mother, or father, or sister, or brother. Now imagine that 300,000 times over! The mourning is unbelievable. So what can we do?
The events of Haiti are horrible and unforgettable. It is one of those events that goes down in history and is remembered. Unfortunately we do not know what to do next. These people need help, but by helping them we help ourselves more (according to Sam). I don’t necessarily agree with this. By giving them resources like clean water and clothing we help them get started, even if this means increasing the U.S. economy. What is a few bottles of toothpaste or some shirts we already had lying around? The people of Haiti will not be lazy afterwards and assume they will get things for free. I mean it is their country and I doubt they will sit around in the rubble. Taking time off from our lives will not change the effects of Haiti. If it is your family, that is one thing. But there is no need for the entire U.S.A. to take a day off and help Haiti. So what do we do instead? We go on with our lives. There are already enough people helping out that more would make it impossible to get the job done. Yes we should still send people down to give others a break.
One student said that putting money in a bag or jar is pointless because you don’t know where it’s going. Well, Penn State Students, let’s look at Thon. We put dollars and quarters into our cans every year to an organization we trust. The same happens with Haiti. We put our money there in hopes that it will go to the right place.
We care as Americans about these problems, but not all of us can help out. So it seems from the outside that we do not care. It is judgmental to think that we do not care because we are not devoting every day to it. It is great to remember and keep these people in our thoughts and prayers, but stopping what we are doing seems unnecessary. So what do these 300,000 people mean to me? They mean opportunity. All of Haiti is starting on a clean slate. Unfortunately they are even far worse off than they already were. I am glad to give money for resources. I am thankful this did not happen to me or affect my family directly. Keep these people in our minds, thoughts, and prayers. Be Thankful for today.
I think people's reaction to the situation in Haiti is because they don't have a direct connection to it. Its hard to comprehend a loss of life on that scale so most people kind of do the minimum (get bracelets, give a little money, etc.), but then they move on. You really can't expect people to do more than that when they don't feel a pull to do more. A lot of it may have to do with the fact that we've been exposed to a lot of devastation in our generation–9/11, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, tornados, etc.–and we may have just become desensitized, like it's just another day to us. And it seems like stuff is happening so often now that if you do choose to go the extra mile and donate your time to one cause, how do you choose which one to do? What makes one disaster more deserving of your attention than another? So maybe it's just easier for people to do the minimum for everything that way you have no guilt and you do a little something for everyone.
I think that people are so preoccupied with themselves that they often forget there are other people in the world. I don't think it is a matter of people saying "I don't want to help", I think, in fact, that many people really do want to help. I think that people are so consumed with what's going on in the here and now in their own lives that donating money or time, or observing a few minutes of silence gets put on the bottom of the lists of things to do for the day. This donation of time or money or silence or whatever then eventually gets delayed so much that it is no longer relevant. We live in this culture that is so consumed with our own lives, and I think many of us often push these horrific tragedies aside after a few days because it does not directly effect us. As sad as it makes me feel to write this, I think it is very true.
I mean I think we're just draw to other people in our average proximity. I don't think this makes us bad people. I don't think the means we're careless or insensitive. I feel closer to my roomates than the average person because I live with them. Because I share so many things with them. We go to the same school. We lead similar lives. And its that closeness that would distinguish them from the others random people I walk by every day. Its that same–yet obviously different– closeness I feel like when I compare Americans to those abroad. In comparison, Americans are my roomates, and the rest are just the random people I walk by down the street.
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I understand what this person is saying completely. I personally feel guilty that I am not doing more to help, and honestly, that I am not more sad. I mean obviously I am sad about what happened, but I didn’t cry. I didn’t lose sleep over it, it didn’t stop my day to day activities. I feel like a bad person because I am not more sad about it. I try. I try to understand and to imagine what those people are going through, but I can’t. I’ve looked at pictures, I’ve talked to people who have gone to Haiti, and still I just can’t put myself there and I can’t imagine it. It doesn’t affect me directly, so I can’t really empathize. I wish there was something I could do, but I just feel like there isn’t. I can’t stop going to class to go there and help, I can’t donate large amounts of money. I’m really glad that Sam collects money for Haiti because it makes me feel like I am doing something, but really, is that 10-15 dollars that I’ve donated really going to make a difference?
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I think this is a really hard question to answer. When we had the attacks on the World Trade Centers on September 11th, I remember being let out of school at noon and going home. Yet we had to come back to school the next day and the teachers were not to talk to us about it, only a letter was sent home with us to our parents. That happened on our home soil to our own people, yet my school, my family’s school, my parents work, we all went on with our daily lives the next day. Obviously we watched the news and such for the weeks following to see what progressed but something happened four hours away from me and yes I feel terrible for the people whose lives were lost, but I did not do anything to even help my own country. And I am not saying I would never ever help out if something would happen again, but what can I do to help? I could volunteer my whole summer to go to Haiti but what could I honestly do to help? I am no doctor, I cannot lift heavy things, what could I possibly do to help????? I was considering for a while trying to go with some organization to help but when Ian came in to talk, I realized I would just be in the way. And not only would I be in the way, but hands down I could just not handle it. When he talked about the mass graves my heart literally skipped a beat; if I were to actually be there I would just lose it and just be a burden. Of course I want people who are qualified and such to go down to Haiti and help. Of course I want people to keep giving money to organizations who know what Haiti needs at the moment. But me? What can I do? I’m a twenty year old college student with no money. All I can really do I think is say that my parents gave a lot of money towards Haiti and that I honestly hope for the best. When you say that we are more worried about taking a test than what is happening in Haiti, that kind of rubs me the wrong way. It does because what else am I supposed to do? Worry myself to death about all of the lives lost? If I were to drop what I am doing every time something happens in the world, I would not still be in college. There is a point where if you are not directly affected by something that happened in the world, of course you can feel sorrow for what happened, but I cannot let it affect my everyday life and what I have going. It may sound selfish, but I do not know what else I could do.
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Unfortunately, I think that the tragedy in Haiti is a similar situation to September 11th, Hurricane Katrina or even the tsunami a few years back in Thailand. International attention is immediately focused on the devastated area, and the whole world seems to come together to mourn. People try to see what they can send or donate to help at first, but unless they are directly affected, everyone goes back to life as normal. While I understand that the people of Haiti need the help and support of the rest of the world to get back on their feet, but I also think it’s understandable how people who are “unaffected” go on with their lives as usual shortly after a tragedy occurs.
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The disheartening fact is that many people don’t give to help Haiti because they are not directly affected by the events that took place in this small, distant nation. Think about it…would many of the people in class donated any money to Haiti had Sam not said something. The sad and realistic answer is no. It’s terrible, but many people don’t care because it isn’t affecting their everyday lives. Additionally, I believe people don’t give support because they simply choose to ignore the events that took place. When you ignore things like this, the suffering and destruction become someone else’s problem. Others fall victim to the “Bystander Affect”. This term refers to the idea that people don’t help others because they think other people will step in and do the work that they could easily do themselves. It’s a plain shame!
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In this world people do not know what they have until they lose it. People cannot care about others if those 'others' are not directly in their lives we can sympathize but that's pretty much it. Unfortunately that is how some people work in this world. Maybe those have lost loved ones in 9/11 or in some other accident know and understand those pains. Maybe those who have worried about having enough food on the table, could understand their pain.But if people put themselves in the shoes of those Haitians who have lost loved ones and have no money to feed their children or themselves, they would not continue eating their dinners after hearing about this tragedy they would probably try looking for the next flight to Haiti.
However not everyone in the world is like this, for example I would love to go down to Haiti and lend a helping hand however helping costs money and I do not have the money to buy a ticket to Haiti and have enough money to maintain myself for however long I would like to stay. In Tuesday's lecture we were asked that if we wanted to help, we could put our name and email address down for more information. So I guess I just have to wait and see what they tell me. Until then I just hear about all the stuff that is going on down there, feel compassion and then go about my daily life.
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Although we are all a part of one world, it is easy to focus on what is right in front of you and see the world in a close view. It is also easy to overlook or forget certain disasters, such as the earthquake in Haiti because the media is quick paced, constantly focusing on the next big disaster or issue. The media also prefers to package stories in a way that allows for a beginning, middle and end. The media breaks a story, assesses the situation and seems to try and end on a positive note, with success stories. The media does not want to keep coming back to Haiti if it will not pique audience interest. The bottom line is audiences prefer a happy story, rather than a seemingly hopeless one. The media is a business, and the news filtered through must be more questioned. In today’s world with 24/7 access to information, it is kind of amazing what does and does not reach an audience. If Sam did not remind us of how Haiti will never be the same, it is unlikely that I would fully understand the depth of the situation. That is not to say that I would not think back to the disaster and feel sadness, but I would not understand the ripple effect of this truly devastating occurrence. When people do not understand the depth of a problem, it is easy to look the other way and go on with life. As a culture, we are pretty desensitized to violence and death. It seems statistics have taken a hold of coverage, rather than in depth analysis of where exactly these numbers come from. I’m a communications major and became alarmingly awareness of this freshman year in a journalism class. We discussed the ethics of publishing a picture of a car accident. The picture showed a mangled car, and a figure in the front seat. The figure was a man who had died in the accident. The implications of publishing such a photo were various, but one was how the family may feel upon seeing the photo. To readers, this was just another car accident, a statistic. To the family of the man who passed away, it was their father, brother, uncle, son, photographed, lifeless. To the family, their lives would be forever changed. To the public, this was an explanation as to why there was traffic at 7 pm on an expressway. This is neither positive nor negative, as the function of the media is to be gatekeepers of information to the public. Each news story cannot delve into the implications of each incident, accident or disaster. The media by nature can only give a snapshot of reality to the public. This leaves the real investigative work up to the viewer. I say this with myself included, it is easier to move on without full understanding of a situation that it is to take time to understand the implications of an event. It is easier to know that something horrible happened and send money to aid a situation, than it is to venture to say, Haiti, and fully grasp what must be done to rectify the situation. I’ve learned from this class that we must just not stay current on current events, but stay current on past events to have a full grasp of reality.
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In this world people do not know what they have until they lose it. People cannot care about others if those 'others' are not directly in their lives, we can sympathize but that's pretty much it. Unfortunately that is how some people work in this world. Maybe those have lost loved ones in 9/11 or in some other accident know and understand those pains. Maybe those who have worried about having enough food on the table could understand their pain. But if people put themselves in the shoes of those Haitians who have lost loved ones and have no money to feed their children or themselves, they would not continue eating their dinners after hearing about this tragedy they would probably try looking for the next flight to Haiti.
However not everyone in the world is like this, for example I would love to go down to Haiti and lend a helping hand however helping costs money and I do not have the money to buy a ticket to Haiti and have enough money to maintain myself for however long I would like to stay. In Tuesday's lecture we were asked that if we wanted to help, we could put our name and email address down for more information. So I guess I just have to wait and see what they tell me. Until then I just hear about all the stuff that is going on down there, feel compassion and then go about my daily life.
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A lot of people died in Haiti and are continuing to die every day. I have never thought of Haiti, heard of Haiti, nor do I know anything about it including its location. To be honest I didn’t even hear about the disaster the day it happened, I wasn’t aware until about two days later because I decided to pick up a newspaper. I am not too sure how I feel about the whole situation; I will try to not seem too cold about it. This disaster was horrifying, tragic, and life changing for those people in Haiti. My remorse for those who died, those who suffered, and those who lost family and friends, and those who remained trapped for days is immense. People never think about things like this until after they happen. However, as a student I cannot afford to personally go there and help. We also heard that the money being donated in a way is hurting the country because it is being used in the wrong way so what are we to do. It is very true that people easily forget about things like this. How could people not? Especially something that is not in our country, something that really has little connection to our lifestyle. I don’t think that anybody needs to feel bad for continuing on with their lives. Why would people choose to sit around and mourn instead of going on with their everyday life? It is a lot easier to just forget, who wants to sit down and think about all the stuff that is going on? All the people dying, all the sadness, no one really. I feel that if you can make a difference, or have the potential to make a difference you should. However I do not feel that it is necessary to sit around and think about disasters like this all the time, things that do not directly correlate to your everyday life , instead of going out and continuing to live your life. If you can help, that’s great! Do whatever you can, in this case I am far from Haiti and have never even heard of it I do not feel I need to let it affect my life. I donated money to help and left it at that. My opinion might sounds cruel but this is just how I feel. Haiti was one of the poorest countries in the World, and from what Sam said that is the United States’ fault from a long time ago. Pumping all this money into it now when they have nothing to do with it and are using it in a way that isn’t benefiting anyone in the long run seems like a waste to me. People need to collaborate and come together, this is the only way to help. People that can help great, keep helping, others who cannot I feel should continue on with their lives and not feel guilty about it.
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I think you've raised some great questions here. Questions that made me think for awhile about the disaster in Haiti and what we heard in class on Tuesday. Do we have a responsibility to help? I think we do. It's easy to sit here and do nothing though and continue going on with our lives. But it's not difficult to do something that makes a difference. Like Ian said, it's easier to make a bigger difference in a country that so desperately needs help and aid. At the very least, Haiti's unfortunate and dire situation should remind us to be thankful for what we have, for the luxuries in our life (like running water, grocery stores around the corner, and a place to sleep at night) and maybe to share some of our relative wealth. I think part of the reason why people read about these catastrophic events in the news or online and say, "oh my god, that's horrible," but then continue on with their lives is because they've never known or seen such a disaster or have seen how it directly affects them. It can be hard sometimes to see a direct relation as to how something like this affects us. But I think Tuesdays class helped put it into perspective for me, at least. When I found out that the aid money that the U.S. is sending is really just benefiting our own economy I was a little shocked. Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world, and the U.S. one of the wealthiest, if not the most wealthy. And like Sam said, the people in the lowest 10% of socioeconomic status here in the U.S. are still better off than the people in Haiti.
I think one of the problems is that so many Americans have the view from their microcosm and can only think about what is happening in the present day. I think people also have trouble putting themselves in another person's shoes. Yes, it can be hard to think about what it would be like if suddenly 300,000 Americans were killed here in the U.S. because of an Earthquake and that we didn't have any food or fresh water to drink. But think about how we felt on 9/11 or after Hurricane Katrina. Do you think people felt more empathy for those injured and killed in the attacks and the natural disaster here than they do for the victims in Haiti? I think that people become desensitized to "giving" towards a problem that probably will take decades to solve, ie. hunger in Africa or rebuilding Haiti. People are much more willing write a check now and say, "Ok, this solves an imminent problem and I did my part." The only people who can truly say how horrible these events are, are those who have had family or close friends directly involved. But in any event, we should all try our best to imagine ourselves in that situation and think about the Golden Rule that Same talked about.
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300,000. The number is certainly staggering, but to be frank? I hadn't even taken notice of it until Tuesday's lecture. Numbers are thrown at us constantly, and to me, they've lost their meaning. Numbers can be big or small, far or close, and I still have issues grasping onto them.
This is I don't get about pulling out a figure like 300,000: people die every single day, in countless tragic (and natural) ways. Suicides, gang warfare, natural deaths–they all occur. They're, all just as sad, just as tragic, as any other death. They're all lost life. If we mourned every single death of every single individual, then we'd literally never stop mourning. Now, I'm not saying that 300,000 deaths in one place isn't significant–a number like that completely changes the culture and the lives of the people in that area–but I don't think it's fair to throw a number at us to explain why it's significant. Yes,the deaths are sad, but it's the annihilation of a lifestyle that's tragic. Every single person in Haiti was affected by the earthquake–every single person's life was dramatically altered. I think it's the destruction of the culture that's the cause for alarm.
Yes, it's our job to help them rebuild, but it's not our job to mourn for them. To be shocked, to be sad, to want to help–yes. But to mourn? I think mourning for someone you don't know can be shallow, can demean the process. Rather than mourning a loss that may not be ours, I think we should focus on helping the people who remain.
…but, okay, I have another question about Tuesday's lecture. Do we really just help other people because, ultimately, it's beneficial to ourselves? I've been thinking a lot about this issue recently (specifically in regard to Ayn Rand's philosophy of objectivism — admittedly, I have never read any of her work and only know fragments of her thoughts, so please forgive me in advance for butchering any of the concepts she presents), and I think it comes down to fundamental ideas about our individual purpose on the earth. Should my goal be to manipulate the system to best serve my needso? To just be happy? Or to give to others–to give myself and to contribute directly to the people around me?
I tend to believe in the last one. I have no idea what'll happen when I die. Eventually, the earth will end (the sun will explore, or global warming will destroy the planet, or what have you). Every single book, every building, every dollar bill, everything physical will be gone. I don't have particular religious beliefs, but the only thing that I think has any type of potential permanence is energy–souls, I guess. So, the way I see it is if I can contribute positivesly to both my energy and the energy of other, then that's more lasting than anything else I can do with my life.
But is it all just about benefiting ourselves, in the end? Is that ultimately why we help others?
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Tuesday’s lecture about the devastating tragedy that recently occurred in Haiti was truly an eye opener for me. It’s one thing to hear about it on the news and read articles about it, but actually seeing the pictures and hearing the raw/personal stories from someone who went to the country and experienced the aftermath first hand, really put things in a totally new perspective for me. The moment that the picture was shown in which the man was standing on the pile of dead bodies in mourning, I was completely lost for words. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before, and my heart genuinely broke for the country and those who were affected by the natural disaster. It’s one of those things were I knew it was bad, but I didn’t realize HOW BAD it actually was; simply hearing the total death count sent chills up my body. Sitting in on that lecture really made me want to become more proactive and look into more ways in which I could do something to help. One thing that was brought up in lecture that I think the public needs to become much more aware of, is how the donations (texts donating money, water, food, etc.) can be counterproductive in getting the country to progress and move towards rebuilding their lives. If more people realized that this could ultimately make Haiti dependent/beggars, maybe they would better research organizations, which could lead to them actually learning more about the situation as opposed to sending a text message and forgetting about it the next day.
In lecture, someone brought up the fact that as soon as the earthquake in Chile occurred, the media’s focus on Haiti diminished little by little each day there after. Obviously, we live in the United States, so the vast majority of information we get about what’s going on in the world around us comes directly from the mass media.
That being said, I think the part of the problem with this whole issue with regards to the public’s responsibility to Haiti, lies within the media and whether or not they are genuinely doing their job of informing and educating us on ALL of the important things going on in the world. I’m not saying that the media should take all the accountability in the situation, because I do think that society needs to take matters into their own hands and put forth additional effort. However, I can’t help but wonder where our priorities lie when the top headlines are Larry King’s divorce, Tiger Woods’ affairs, which celebrities broke up, etc. When the media stops covering these stories we seem to forget about their existence. We forget that even though the papers/news stops covering it, the situation still exists and people are still struggling.
I feel guilty admitting it, but previous to Tuesday’s class, I hadn’t thought about the earthquake in Haiti for a while. I’m not trying to make excuses for myself, but I have a busy schedule and have barely had time for myself this past semester. In addition to preparing for graduation in May and figuring out what I’m going to do come a month or so, I have a full class schedule, job applications/interviews, a part-time job, homework, studying, clubs, etc. to worry about. It’s not that I don’t care about Haiti, because I do. I get emotional even thinking about what these people are going through. I’m from Long Island and when 9/11 happened I knew many people that lost their lives. The experience was life changing and I struggled with the aftermath for a long time afterwards. Considering MANY more people died in Haiti, I can only imagine what life is like there right now. We all lead very different lives filled with very different responsibilities, and unfortunately, unless things directly affect us personally we tend to push them aside and treat them as less of a priority.
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In this world people do not know what they have until they lose it. People cannot care about others if those ‘others’ are not directly in their lives we can sympathize but that’s pretty much it. Unfortunately that is how some people work in this world. Maybe those have lost loved ones in 9/11 or in some other accident know and understand those pains. Maybe those who have worried about having enough food on the table, could understand their pain.But if people put themselves in the shoes of those Haitians who have lost loved ones and have no money to feed their children or themselves, they would not continue eating their dinners after hearing about this tragedy they would probably try looking for the next flight to Haiti.
However not everyone in the world is like this, for example I would love to go down to Haiti and lend a helping hand however helping costs money and I do not have the money to buy a ticket to Haiti and have enough money to maintain myself for however long I would like to stay. In Tuesday’s lecture we were asked that if we wanted to help, we could put our name and email address down for more information. So I guess I just have to wait and see what they tell me. Until then I just hear about all the stuff that is going on down there, feel compassion and then go about my daily life.
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This is an interesting idea. I had never really thought about it before, and while yes hearing that 300,000 people died does affect me and I am sad and left feeling helpless, it does not affect me in the same way as the death of someone in my family, or someone I knew well would. I am able to push it out of my mind and focus on other things for hours on end, but would be completely unable to do so had someone I knew died. But how can we feel that connected to something that we are so unfamiliar with? Familiarizing ourselves with it after helps to some degree, but I feel like it's impossible to feel the same emotions towards people you never knew compared with people you know well and love. You can help those people out, and you should most definitely want to and follow through with it, but you don't have the same connection. Is there a way to acquire this? I don't know, I don't really think there is.
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part 1: When there is a national tragedy, everyone stops and notices for a day or two, but people will move on and still go to work laugh and live their lives normally. It’s important that people acknowledge when something horrible happens; however it doesn’t mean that everyday must be spent in constant misery and sorrow. Someone in my high school had a father who died in the September 11th attacks. He would see that day differently that other people because he was directly affected. I sound horrible probably, but I’m just saying that’s how most people see it. When we lose a sibling or a parent personally, our lives are never the same because a big part of it is gone forever. There is going to be a myriad of more tragedies in this world, but if everyone lets these events ruin every minute of their lives, no one would ever be happy.
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part 2: There should always be a few days of mourning, but every day is a new day; a new day to move on. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe every single day should be spent mourning those who died in the tsunami and the earthquake in Haiti. But it really shouldn’t. Death is inevitable for all of us at some point. No one can just live forever, although I don’t think anyone would really want. There probably will be a judgment day some day, but probably not in our lifetime right now. The day the world ends would be considered something that would be upsetting for an extended period of time, but that won’t happen. Or ironically it will happen in 2012 so we can all kick the director’s ass who made the movie last year. Americans are self centered in general, we all know that. There is a lot of people who didn’t even acknowledge the tragedy in Haiti. I donated multiple times, but I’m not sitting in my room now thinking about how horrible it is still. Maybe I’m one of those non-caring Americans.
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part 3: But is it really selfish to say that I care more about my own family than others. Family comes first, or at least it should to most people; even though it doesn’t. Every creature on the earth shows compassion, dogs cry, and animals know when they’ve lost something dear to them. But when a lion is walking through the plains of Africa and sees 5 dead lions, he won’t do a double take. Human beings are more complex, but still; people save their sadness emotion for their own personal use with people in their own lives. That’s the way it should be. Getting over a loss of a loved one is one of the hardest things to do in the world, and if everyone in the world got THAT upset about everything bad that happens in the world; this would be one sad depressing planet.
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I think it is easy to distance yourself from situations that you never have to see. Everyday there are bombings in Iraq that kill groups of people, but we don’t look twice at the headline. Meanwhile, there is an explosion in a mine in West Virginia and America stops to help. I’m not saying that this is a bad thing, but it’s just not a prevalent thing. Ultimately, people are concerned with the things that will directly influence them. In the case of the Haiti earthquake, people either don’t realize how it affects them or realize that it really doesn’t affect them. These scenarios rely on people helping because they want to help, not because they need to. Unfortunately, there aren’t that many people that feel that want.
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I totally agree with the person that made the question. We should help, not only because it is "one world", but also because it happened 1 hour away from Miami. For those of you who do not know where Haiti is… is not too far away from the borders of the US. As part of a big country and the largest economy in the world, people should feel responsible for the people in need. If we have the ability, we have the responsibility. There are many ways in which people could help in Haiti, there are no excuses and it will makes us happy. Does everyone agree with me? Who thinks that we do not need to help poor countries like Haiti? and Why?
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I took a class about environmental tourism and global citizenship. I feel this issue has a lot to do with being a global citizen. I think many people have the opinion that when tragedy strikes another country, it is their problem and not ours. But we have to realize we are all connected. We are all humans. And yes we have our country, and yes we can take pride in our country and our people, but we a cannot forget and turn our heads to others who need help (especially when we are in the position/have the ability to help). A lot of people in this world don’t see it that way, and it is unfortunate.
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Sometimes I feel that a number, especially, a big number like 300,000 does not do justice to the actual human loss. Each person was an individual. Each person was a mother, father, sister, brother, etc. I think that this point is overlooked sometimes during these massive tragedies. The tsunami was another example of this. We are farther removed from these tragedies because they are not happening here in America. I understand this, but I think that we should at least stop and think about the actual human loss from time to time. It is easy to donate ten dollars, and it’s a good thing. I just think we have to make ourselves realize what actually happened down there.
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I think this question can go in many directions and could be looked at it many different ways. I don’t think that Sam or Ian, whoever made this statement, meant it to mean that people think tests are more important than helping others or anything of the sort. Yes, many people, myself included, get very stressed and caught up in grades and what the transcripts say. In some sense, this is important. In todays world you cannot get too far without having qualifications that make you “more attractive” than others who are competing for the same position. Sometimes the transcripts do matter, but I think from a larger picture…who you are as a person is much more important. What this video is saying is partly true in a sense, and yes I do think that there probably should be a lot more people helping out in Haiti than there are, but then it just comes back to the problem that was discussed in class – some of the people that are helping are not doing the right thing and are actually making the Haitian economy worse off. Obviously this is not the intention of those who want to help but if one person dropped what they were doing for every individual who was killed, there would be 300 thousand MORE people in Haiti…causing more problems. So maybe 1 helping hand for each death is an extreme but even if 150,000 individuals were sent, it is hard to tell if the economy would thrive or not. I am not at all saying that Haiti does not need help or anything of that sort, they most definitely do, but they need the RIGHT help and sometimes not all individuals are qualified for that and therefore they do continue to just live their own lives and do what they need to do. Another way to look at it then is what about the other countries who are struggling in other ways. If we go all in and help out as much as we can for one country, in a sense we are leaving behind and forgetting about others. Some may say none of it is our responsibility and that Haiti is worse off but in a sense you can never please everyone. Someone will always need help, every economy will always be struggling and someone will let every world issue pass them by and not have a care in the world but their own. In the end I think it comes down to the following, the girl is completely right that if one of my family members died, I would most definitely take time off and do anything I could to help with the situation. However, I also can be placed under the category to just take my test and move on because I may not be the most qualified in skills to be the right kind of help in a place such as Haiti.
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It think it is really difficult for Americans to feel something about people that are not close to them. It hits home when it is someone you know or even when it occurs in your own country. But when disasters happen to other people all over the world it is difficult to mourn someone you feel you have no connection to. I am not saying this is fair or ok, but it is the way it works. In a country of such fast paced lives it is difficult to just stop for a minute and think about the other people in the world, even if something as terrible as the earthquake in Haiti happens.
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I do agree with this girl, it is hard to see why, most of the time, we escape devastation and a lot of the pain that exists in the world is thrust upon other people. A few years ago I would have completely agreed with this statement regarding the affect of a natural disaster or any other attack; if it affected me personally it would have had a much bigger effect on my life than just being aware of another disaster that took place somewhere around the world.
This is not the first time in the history of my life, at a time when I have been aware of what goes on in the world that 300,000 people have died. People have heard about and talked about all those suffering in Darfur and in other areas of the world where people are constantly dying. It is true that these issues come to the surface now and again, but most of the time they are of unimportance to us and the things that affect us directly, like a test or a quiz, become more important than the lives of others.
Currently, where I stand in life, I feel that I am lucky enough to empathize with all people, not only those who are closely connected with me. I think it is safe to assume that many people, especially those wrapped in the college lifestyle, are still in the position of life to feel and think in a more selfish matter, which is perfectly acceptable. It takes time and learning, about yourself and others, to know that you can empathize and feel for people other than yourself or those closely connected to you. I, luckily, have had the influence of many knowledgeable people to grow in a way that I could not have without their influence.
I feel that most people will sit through Sam’s class and think that they need to do something because they have that ability. The sad thing that will come of this is that most of these people won’t do anything. They will feel some sort of way about something, but that is all it will become; they will never do anything with those feelings.
In regards to the others, the ones who don’t move on, the ones that have situations affect our lives; it is not so easy to get out there and save the world; believe me I have tried. I have been accepted to a long term volunteer program at an orphanage in South Africa with disadvantaged children, but because I do not have the funds, I cannot make the trip and help others. Sometimes people want to help, but sometimes they just can’t.
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I understand where the girl is coming from in this question, of why don’t we care when a huge number of people die, yet if someone close to us dies we stop whatever we are doing. I just feel as if people are never really going to care about something if it doesn’t touch home with them or they have no personal connection with it. If one person dies, and that person had a huge impact on your life of course you are going to feel some type of way. However if 300,000 people who you never met before die, it probably won’t make a difference to you, because it doesn’t hit home with you, they had nothing to do with anything I have done in my life why should I care about them.
I wish people did not think this way, but that lack of a personal connection is what truly keeps people who are away from a natural disaster from truly feeling the pain of those experiencing or directly affected by these disasters. However it is completely understandable for someone who has no true connection with the situation.
For me personally when I first found about 9/11 I was like that’s terrible, and I did not realize that my aunt worked at the World Trade Centers, so I was just like wow that sucks, but once I found out that my aunt worked there it hit home with me and I was immediately put onto a completely higher level of worry about the situation. I found out that she wasn’t at work when it happened, but that situation right there was a time when the personal part of something truly showed me how much more I care when it touches me personally.
Also with the tragedy in Haiti I remember at the beginning of the semester I felt terrible about it, and wanted to donate and do what I could to help, but seeing it on CNN and understanding the destruction was what really made me want to help, however I know If I had family or close friends down there when it happened I would have done so much more to help out with it. CNN and other channels showed the destruction and pain that people were in, which helped to personalize it to me and made me willing to give more money to the cause, and also see what I can do to help with the devastation.
The main point I have been trying to make is just that things will always matter more if you are personally affected, whether it is that one person that you know and love or those 300,000 innocent bystanders you never met, you will most likely care more about that 1 person and not the 300,000 other people.
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I think the fact that human beings are able to deal with the knowledge that we will all die and that our deaths may follow that of our loved ones is an amazing feat. How does one get up every morning just knowing that parents, children, spouses and friends are all dying? We just do not know the timing. When we do suffer the inevitable loss we take time off school or work to deal with the emotional turmoil. Eventually, we get back to our normal lives. It is incredible that people have the ability to revitalize their emotions, when at the time we face our personal losses we feel we will never recover. When we hear of natural disasters and the loss of many lives I think we all suffer but are able to segregate those feelings from the more intense feelings that concern those who are more personal to us. This is probably a good thing. Otherwise we would be mourning every day and we would never actually have the opportunity to live.
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I think the main reason that I am less affected by the tragedy in Haiti is basically because it is so distant from my own reality. I have never experienced a third world country or anything significantly different from my comfortable, suburban hometown. My life has been pretty free of tragedy and hardship so, for myself, it’s hard to understand the magnitude of what has happened in Haiti. I, like most other people, have only seen images on TV and the Internet but clearly that does not what is actually going on any justice. I think it is really unfortunate that more people can’t experience the situation first hand because then I think people would get it. People would be directly affected and more likely to care about what is still going on there. That’s not to say that people who haven’t traveled to Haiti don’t care. I mean I think I care about the people there but obviously not as much as some other people. For me personally, it’s difficult to take myself out of the moment and focus on other people. Honestly, it’s hard for me to think about Haiti when I have a huge Stat exam in the morning. I feel like it’s that way for a lot of college students. We are self-centered people and tend to think of what is best for ourselves and not what is best for those around us. That being said, I know that if there was a natural disaster or tragedy that happened in American we would all be willing to get on the plane and help our fellow Americans. We would do this because one, the disaster would be hitting closer to home and two, we are fiercely patriotic people who tend to jump to other Americans aide when needed. Look at how people responded after September 11 or Hurricane Katrina. We aren’t used to seeing one another suffer on such a large scale and I think that is why people are so quick to lend a hand to those in America. I wish there was a way to allow everyone to experience the devastation that would have more impact. It is definitely important to continue to have speakers and presentation on Haiti because even though it happened several months ago, the destruction is going to last a long time. People need to keep Haiti in their minds and even if it didn’t happen in their backyard it still happened. America is so much better off then countries like Haiti and I think that we need to use this to help others. I hope that in the future I will be able to make a difference in someone’s life directly but for now I will have to settle for indirect impacts like donating money.
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I understand what you are saying. It really is awful that something so massive can happen and everyone just goes on with their lives. But what would be the right thing to do? And how much time do we commit to doing the right thing? You proposed taking a year off if someone in your family died, but is that appropriate for someone you have never met? Where do we draw the line? I spent a couple of minutes each day reflecting about what happened any time I heard a mention of it. I donated some money. I wish I could have gone down there to help, but how can I leave my $40,000 education behind? I don’t think that it’s a bad thing to go on with your life if you’re unaffected by the tragedy. Sure, we are all one world and we should feel something when someone suffers, but when do you think it’s okay to stop feeling that sorrow?
So let’s say that you just found out your best friend’s cousin’s wife’s brother just died in a really tragic event. You’ve never met the guy before and don’t know a thing about him, other than what’s in the news and what your friend says about him. Would you really be as affected by his death as you would be if he were your own brother? Most people would feel some sort of sadness, but they are not going to take off a week and mourn for someone they don’t know. I think a lot of people do feel terrible about what happened in Haiti, but how can they stop their lives for people they don’t know? The best and most they can do is to make a few donations, think about what happened, and feel sorrowful. So although 300,000 people is a lot of people, if your life wasn’t personally changed by any one of them, then it’s doubtful that your life will change a whole lot when they are gone. It is a really sad way to think about it, but I don’t think that there is much more that people would want to do if they don’t have a direct association to the event.
College students have a harder time involving themselves in events such as Haiti, which is acceptable. It is a little selfish, but at this stage in our growth we are allowed to be selfish. We are trying to build our own lives, so it is hard to be affected by something we are unfamiliar with. Additionally, we don’t have many resources to effectively help out. Of course we all donate a few dollars, or maybe our time to a significant cause. We help the best we can. Taking a year off, or even a week off is really out of the question. We have invested time and thousands of dollars into our education, so how could we just leave for a week to mourn for people we don’t know?
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I think that it’s sad that so many people, myself included, are so consumed with our own lives, that we give something like an earthquake that killed 300,000 so little of our time and thought. Yet, at the same time, I understand that in life, death and destruction is always all around us, on the news, in the newspapers, and just in life, that I feel like people become so use to hearing it that we've become less affected by these horrific events. However, I don't think that means it’s a good thing. I think that hearing lectures like the one about Haiti are good reminder of why it's so important to stop and think, and help, when something this awful happens to so many people. It’s easy to get sucked into our own lives, I completely understand that myself, yet I like being reminded that it’s not a good thing, so I can see why I do need to step out of the small bubble of my life and see and hear what else is going on.
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What this girl said was very interesting and eye opening. She states that during the tragic earthquake in Haiti, 300,000 people died and unfortunately we as a country recognize and see there hardships, but really just continue on with our daily lives. She was saying we still go to class, we take our tests, and we go on with our day to day function without a care in the world since it did not hit us personally or affect anything around us. I am not sure if this is the same with other countries or just the U.S…But I definitely see what she is explaining. She then goes on to mention though, the different actions we would take had this happened in our country or had affected our family or friend. For example, if my entire family lived in Haiti and I was unable to get to the right away to see them, my daily routine would inherently be stopped. I would not be able to think about anything else besides the fact that my family was hurt or killed and helpless. And I think the feeling of helplessness would drive my life to stop the most. Being in a different country where it is expensive and hard to get to where your family may be provides a feeling of helplessness which I can’t imagine being faced with. I feel like if we do not have personal ties to a tragic event it often goes, not unnoticed, but it doesn’t really affect anything we do. Like we address the fact that Haiti is in a lot of despair and need, we will donate a few dollars to help them, but when it comes down to it, we’re okay because it doesn’t really have anything to do with us…It’s pretty sick if you think about it. In some defense, I would honestly love to go and help people in Haiti and I am know I am more financially set than they are, but I do not have the money or the means to do so. In class we were talking about how often times people like to volunteer in third world countries or places that really need the help because you can see immediate results. Often times people don’t want to volunteer for example, back in America when they can be getting noticed and see real change when they volunteer in Haiti. It is such a weird balance I guess that must happen. You must have empathy for people who are suffering even though they are worlds apart. I feel like if you are unable to go to these other countries then donating a few dollars here or volunteering a few hours there will help the cause and allow you to slowing chip in at making a difference.
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I think most people felt terrible about this awful tragedy. I mean people picture themselves in that situation and see them losing their families. People feel compassion for the victims and want to help. However, I think we (United States citizens) would be more affected if we were more emotionally attached like if the earthquake happened in America. Not that we don’t feel any emotion for the people of Haiti, but we would be more effected if the earthquake happened on our own soil. I think back to September 11 or Hurricane Katrina and how that affected us more and how we reacted compared to the earthquake in Haiti. As bad as a tragedy as both these events were, they did bring us so much closer together as a nation.
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She brings up an intriguing point in how if it affected us personally, we would help out or try to do something to relieve the pain. 300,000 people are a lot of people and this is something that needs to be taken in by everyone. If I had family over there, I would be more in touch with this tragedy than I am right now. I knew it was something big when I saw the devastation and the amount of people affected by this earthquake. After this lecture, this Haiti tragedy really hit me and made me think that no matter how distant something like this happens, anything that you can do to help out, you should do it.
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Yeah I totally agree with you. People die everyday for a lot of reasons, and we just don't care about it. I mean, we do care about it. At least we sigh at some point, or we chatted with our friends about it just as some news. We seldomly shake our hearts for that. We seldomly have some sort of connection in heart with those families who lost members in the wars, in earthquakes, in floods…etc. I think it is our responsibility to help those who have lost families. We should share our hearts with them. We should do something, instead of just watch TV and talk about it as if it is just yesterday's movie show. .
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I honestly think part of us "moving on" is that Americans have become numb to the death of a human life. We watch the news and we hear about the murders and other deaths that have occurred the night before and we just pass it off. We also watch the shot em up movies and horror films and think nothing of it. I think this directly plays a role in Americans not valuing lives as much or at least becoming numb to the situation of death. If it is not right in our faces we just pass it off and move on with our lives like nothing happen. I don't know why this is the case but it seems to be a growing trend.
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I think there are two ways to answer this question. First of all, yes it is a tragedy when so many people in the world get killed, and yes they may be far away, but I do not agree with the idea that there is nothing we can do. I think the outlook that people have that there is nothing that we can do is the problem and main reason as to why many people do not do anything. We all know from history that whether good or bad, one person can make a huge difference, Hitler is a great example for that.
Personally, in a situation like this, specifically for our class I believe that the best way to help is to do whatever we can, meaning given the opportunity to donate money to a trustworthy person, we should do it. If you really do care, when Sam offers you the opportunity to help out by donating money, you should take it. In another sense, you can use your expertise or even just volunteer. When the tsunami hit, my sister, a dentist went over to one of the tragedy sites and helped to identify bodies using teeth records. My father, who works in wholesale, went to dedicate his time and effort into just cleaning up the area and helping to distribute aid. I do not believe that people are unable to help out if they are not experts in medical fields. Every hand makes a difference.
Now the other side of this clearly is, what can you do if you're so far away? If a tragedy struck in Indonesia, would people from England be of any use if they travelled there? Would they be able to even afford it? In situations like this I believe that one person can start to make a difference but must gather an entire group to actually carry out anything worthwhile. If that one person chose to gather a group of volunteer medical staff I am sure that he or she would have no trouble getting a group of 4-5 willing people. All he or she would have to do is organize the trip and maybe fundraise for the trip, and honestly that is already making a difference.
Overall, I just believe that to make the world a better place, a positive outlook is the first thing we each all need to have.
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I think that this girl who asks this question has a very strong point. Why do we not care about these big tragedies when they directly dont affect us? I think that people in this world should make more of an effort to feel for others when they are going through hard and sad times. People are so caught up in their everyday life that they dont even realize how others are affected and are feeling. And if the roles were reversed, we would want to take off time to grieve and morn, but others handle their situations accordingly. I just believe that we as people living should feel for others more who are going through a much harder time, and not wait until it directly affects us.
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Everybody has heard of the disaster that occurred in Haiti earlier this year. However, I never realized how many people were actually affected by the earthquake that hit the small country. When I heard that there were about 300,000 people who were killed in the earthquake and even more displaced from the damages, I was very alarmed. It is crazy that in the United States, we suffered a loss of about 3,000 people from the September 11, 2001 terroristic attacks. I remember that when this attack happened, everybody in the country was affected. People could not believe what had happened and were shocked that something like that could even occur in our supposedly safe country. People stopped everything they were doing to throw their support behind our country and to help clean up and fix the mess that was created in New York City. It is somewhat confusing as to why an event that was one hundred times more destructive than the United States crisis received much less aid and support from people around the world. There are nearly two and a half million people who have been displaced because of the earthquake, and people can barely survive. I’m somewhat confused as to why more people haven’t lent a hand to help those victims. Things are only getting worse as the Haitian people aren’t receiving enough aid to survive. In their present condition, they have close to nothing to help them live. I couldn’t imagine living on top of rocks, which used to be my house several months prior to the event. I think that many people in the Soc119 class realized the severity of the disaster after the class designated to Haiti. After sitting through that lecture, I don’t think that anybody left the class with the same mindset. People saw the true disaster with real pictures taken by our guest speaker. I couldn’t imagine the September 11th attacks happening and the United States not doing anything to help clean up or fix the mess. However, in Haiti, the disaster is so large that people don’t even know where to begin and it will cost enormous amounts of money to even put a dent in the cleaning process. There is so much ruble that has accumulated from the earthquake and people haven’t even begin to clear out the mess so that they could get on the right path to fixing their struggling nation. I was also alarmed when I saw pictures of their parliamentary building, similar to our white house. People must be devastated to know that their government is even in shambles. I’m not sure what it would be like if our central location for government actions to take place was destroyed.
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For me the whole problem seems to big and to serious to handle. I know that seems like I don't care but I just can't fathom the vast loss of life or how that would affect my life if that happened here. I remember 9/11 and that was 3,000 people but we rose in a united outrage yes it was an attack but still we should have the same horrified reaction to the loss whether it's natural or man made. I just can't wrap my mind around the number and feel like it has an impact on my day, I feel sorry and sad for the people who lost loved ones and the dead but I think if I truly felt anything outside of pity it would be at least it wasn't here or anyone I know. that may sound like I'm cold hearted and evil but I really don't think that I'm really all that different from anyone else I hate the idea of death and destruction man made or not but I can't feel like the worlds problems are all mine to deal with. so if I could I would go and help with the worlds problems but I can't even help with donations right now. I think we could all take a few days to give back but for now I don't see any way the deaths of so many could affect me on a personal level, if that makes me a bad person then I'm sorry.
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This question, “What does 300,000 really mean to us?” really resonated with me. That is almost 7 Penn State University Park campuses!!!
I think that it is amazing that Haiti news only was on the news for a few weeks at most and even after a few days, people considered it old news and past information. Even though the earthquake is over and the destruction has occurred does not mean that the situation in Haiti has diminished or ended. On the contrary, the disaster and worst part of it all is simply beginning. Homeless families with no shelter, food, education, government, clothing, or jobs are stranded out in what is now a barren land with no organization or control. It is pure chaos gripped with uncertainty of how life will continue in Haiti.
Because I have not visited Haiti, I can only view pictures and hear stories of the destruction and civil unrest. Then I imagine if I were in their shoes. I would have absolutely nothing. 300,000 people just died around me? How is that even a tangible number to inscribe in my brain? The problem is that it is not tangible, and I will never be fully aware of the gravity of the situation because I become preoccupied with my own life as a college student, daughter, friend, and cousin to so many people. Their small daily activities consume my life and allow me to forget the big picture and what is currently happening in my world, even if certain events do not directly affect me. It is easy for someone to say, “Oh, that’s unfortunate,” and move on with their lives after handing a dollar bill to a Haiti relief fund. It is also easy to say that our country is still thriving so why should we really care about others? Do not people forget that we are all humans? We are all a part of this world, despite our language barriers, our skin differences, and our cultures and ethnicities? We are united in the stride for survival, the need for love and compassion to break down our walls. We need to care for the other person as we would hope he or she would do the same for us. We are all bound by egocentrism as individualistic peoples. However, we need to experience enthocentricism and the opportunities it creates for us to open our minds and hearts to our fellow brothers and sisters on this Earth. Once we are able to open our minds in this light, we can feel a heart pouring desire to help each other. Communication, dedication, and love are the ingredients needed to establish peace between our nations. Let’s ignore those barriers and help the Haitians and others in our world.
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You bring up a good point. It doesn’t make sense. How can people go on with their normal, care-free lives when 300,000+ people were just killed or displaced in Haiti. Thinking about that to me is like thinking about the concept of death, or the concept of an infinite universe. The more I think about it and the more I try to make sense of it, the more I just don’t get it and the more frustrated I become. It is so easy – too easy – for people to care for a few moments, maybe send a $10 text to the Red Cross, and then wake up the next day and not let the thought of 300,000 people cross their mind once. It’s just easier on the human psyche to not think about it because no one wants to deal with it.
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Disasters happen each and every year, almost on a monthly basis. Although they are not usually of the magnitude of the earthquake in Haiti, they still happen. How many people remember the tsunami that hit American Samoa, the Minneapolis bridge collapse, or the major tsunami that hit Indonesia in 2004 (which interestingly enough killed more people than the Haitian earthquake according to up to date estimates)? There is a very good chance many people did not even know an earthquake occurred in Chile just over a month after the one in Haiti. I believe there are two reasons that people seem to not care about events such as these.
The first reason is our cultural focus on instant gratification. People in today's world, not limited to America alone, want things as quickly as they can get them. Consider the realm of social networking. MySpace came onto the scene some time before Facebook. It allowed users to view pictures of their friends and look up information about things they might currently be involved in. Facebook came next, providing users "real-time" updates with Facebook statuses. Facebook gives its users the capability to upload pictures from their phones or change their status from their mobile device, almost in real time. Following the pattern of condensing information came Twitter. Twitter is the most abbreviated form of social networking that exists. In simple, 140 character "tweets", users can glean information about what another individual is currently doing nearly at that moment. This instant gratification is not exclusive to social networking, look at everything in the world today; fast food, microwaveable meals, Penn State's ANGEL, 10 minute meals, 6 second abs (LOLZ). All of these things are examples of people getting things that they want, as fast as possible.
Ultimately, this desire has penetrated our news media. People want to hear the latest story. If it happened more than 24 hours ago, it's old news, time to bring on something more interesting. Within days of its occurrence, the Haitian earthquake took a backseat to domestic policy, ealthcare, and all sorts of other "breaking" news.
The second reason is because people actually do not care. Our culture as a collective is a very self-centered culture. This is a characteristic even I am guilty of, -especially- when living in the bubble that is Penn State. Many people in our country today think in a way such that if something does not directly affect them, they will likely pay it no mind. Unfortunately, there is no direct cure for this behavior. Only encouraging people to inform themselves about the world around them will eventually stop the problem. This is similar to the goal of Sam's class. By getting people to think about and be aware of these issues, they may one day be solved.
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Three Hundred Thousand is a number. You hear numbers every day. Be it twelve soldiers dying in a suicide bombing or the three thousand that lost their lives on nine eleven. The number that should be looked at more closely is the number one. Each one of those three hundred thousand were individuals each had a family, a mother, a father, co workers, and friends. Each one of their lives was valuable to many other people. However, it is hard to care unless it directly impacts us. How were we affected by one of the greatest natural disasters that has ever taken place. I feel a lot more attention was given to the tsunami that happened in south east Asia. The earth quake there that created the huge waves killed two hundred thirty thousand individuals. However, we saw many images of the damage actually happen and the buildings being destroyed. We heard the many stories of Americans on vacation and about the huge wave that they saw coming. We heard of the scuba divers that had the waves go directly over them and still somehow survived. We heard of Petra Nemcova the swimsuit model that had to hang onto a tree for hours in order to survive, while her husband was not able to do so and passed away. I have yet to hear many of these types of stories from Haiti. I have not even seen many of the pictures of destruction. If Pittsburgh my hometown was devastated from a huge earthquake and three hundred thousand people died it would change my whole life. I would have to start over and rely on my friends and family for help. However, if many of them passed away I do not know what I would do. I do believe the United States and all of our citizens would be there for us though. I think there would be much more support than what has been done for Haiti. This is only natural, the United States is our home and we help those who are In need more than those of other countries. Also, in response to the video message left by the girl. You cannot live life in sorrow you have to live in happiness. You cannot mourn over people you do not even know that never had affected you in good ways. Live life to the fullest and enjoy what you have.
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I think you summed up the problem yourself in the question, it happened somewhere else and it doesn’t directly affect us. I know that sounds callous, but that’s the honest to god truth. As we were shown in class, all the horrible images we might see on TV and on the news don’t compare to the reality of the situation, so it’s very hard for us here to truly appreciate what’s occurring. It really makes sense when you think about it. I mean, any given day of the year if you were to watch any news station long enough you are guaranteed to hear about a murder that happened somewhere in the US. The disaster in Haiti seems to be a similar situation on a much grander scale. Though a simplification certainly I think this metaphor works. In both cases we of course sympathize with the party being affected, and at times we wish to ourselves that there would be something we could do to help, but in the end we still go on with our daily routine. It’s because deep down we’re aware of the fact that we can’t allow ourselves to put our lives on hold every time a tragedy occurs somewhere in the world. That sounds bad, but I believe it’s just being realistic. The world we live in is constantly facing a new disaster or or slaughter each and every day. Throughout Africa for instance there have been a number of organized programs focused on the extermination of various ethnic groups. This has been going on since, what, we were in high school? I can’t imagine trying to refocus my life on helping groups out every time I heard of a new tragedy. Certainly some can and do, and I really respect that, but I have to be honest that I just can’t, nor do I think that most can. Sometimes we have to simply take reality in strides and accept that we live in an imperfect world and try to not let such tragedies ruin our lives.
With all that in mind, I can accept that this attitude can lead to a problem of apathy. And maybe that’s what was meant in the video to begin with. I don’t believe that there’s anything wrong with going with trying to go about your life amid foreign disasters, but I do see a problem with complete apathy. Basically after having seen so much wrong in the world it’s easy to start believing that nothing can be done, so it’s not even worth the effort of trying. This I believe is a major problem, as it’s that kind of attitude more than anything that keeps things from happening.
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The farther removed you are from an incident, the less you feel connected to it. If those were 300,000 Americans that died, we would all feel more compelled to do something because we share a common nation, a common ideal. I don't think this makes us bad people, but it does open our eyes. Even putting it in perspective and relating it back to ourselves makes us realize what we can do and compels some of us to action. It is a very selfish tendency, but it is the result of our ethnocentric thinking. We cannot change how we are raised to think, but we can change the way we respond to this thinking.
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I don’t think the point here is for anyone to stop their life, but maybe instead realize the struggles of other people. I mean sure 300.000 people died. These natural disasters happen every year. Why care? What can we do anyway? These are the thoughts of so many people in the United States. I mean I care a lot about what happened in Haiti and have participated in many fundraising projects for the relief efforts. The question that I think about is why do some people care and some people not? And the weirdest part of it all is that some of us genuinely care about other people and others do not.
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When someone close to you passes, it is painful. It hurts. You don't grieve because you “should” grieve or that its expected for you to grieve. You had a strong emotional connection with that person and you just realized that person is no longer alive, and thats a very strong emotionally disturbing feeling. You do not choose to feel it. You just do. If you need to take time off it's not a vacation out of respect its time you need for the sake of your psychological welfare.
So, asking people to get upset over deaths in some other part of the globe is a nice ideal. It is nice to feel respect for other people. But it is also insincere. There is no one in Haiti or China I have a strong connection to. I can feel bad and donate money and time after these disasters but am I really that emotionally shaken? Honestly, not really. I think people that say that but do not know anyone there are really being insincere. I am not saying that I do not care. But, my life is going on with or without me. It's selfish for me to worry about my exams while people have recently died? Really? If I don't care about my exams I fail my classes and this entire college experience becomes pointless. I have a lot of pressure to do well and I do not have the luxury of being able to slack off so I can exaggerate how bad I feel about people dying hundreds of miles away. People die every day. Around 115 people die in car accidents everyday in the United States. In the time you have taken to do your race relations homework this week, a couple people have tragically lost their lives. Are you really immediately emotionally devastated?
A resounding theme I have seen in this class, especially in comments on this blog, is how people should or should not “feel bad.” Can someone explain to me how “feeling bad” helps or solves any issue? I really started noticing it during the native american discussions. People were discussing why everyone in the United States should “feel bad” because they are staying on native american land. Conversely, some argued that their ancestors were not in the United States at the time the land was taken so they did not, in fact, need to “feel bad.” Is that situation tragic? Sure. Are there important issues here that should be resolved? Sure. IS there something we can do? Maybe. Does that thing need to involve “feeling bad?” Why? This has got to be some of the most misguided discussions I have ever seen in my life.
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I think this person makes a good point about our society and how people feel about each other in general. I was talking to someone the other day about the war and many other topics that result in human suffering and all but one of topics didn’t affect me directly (and the one that did affect me, is not really as serious as it does affect others). And somewhere in the conversation they asked me why do I care so much because they could see how the idea of people constantly hurting each other or not helping someone who is in trouble was upsetting me, and all I could think of was how could they not care, what is wrong with them.
The only answer that I could possibly think of is that I feel connected to every person in the world, I don’t have to know them, I’m not religious, they can come from totally different ancestry from different regions of the world from me, etc. and I will always care about what’s happening to them and how they got to that situation even if I will never agreed with them in anyway and I will not ever be able to meet them. I just don’t feel right, wasting my money on things I don’t need, I am pretty spoiled so I don’t see why I have any reason not to do something since I already care.
I asked the person why they don’t care and all they can say is it has nothing to do with me. So, I would I assume if their family were in this situation that they would not want, nor ask for any kind of help from a stranger. I can understand not wanted to help or not feeling obligated to help, but to not care, to not care is completely monstrous to me.
I can’t tell if it is pure laziness in those who do not see a reason to help and don’t want to even try, is it just a sick pessimistic attitude that they don’t think anything they do will make a difference, or are they are selfish and self-pitying.
One idea that I came up with on my own is that the only reason why some one be totally justified is that if they them selves are already impoverished, they simply cant even afford to give, or participate. Because of course realistically “some” students don’t receive help from their family to get through school and can’t simply leave. At the end of the day they would have to help them self before they would be able to help others.
An answer someone else gave to me was 300,000 seemed like just a number, simply too big for them to comprehend, especially when counting people. And they said it was only helpful when someone pointed out that a situation well known like 911 was only a couple thousand and was able to see the damage first hand and compared to the 300,000 people of Haiti they don’t see every day in the news, but its not in our country.
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300,000 people dead are a lot of people. We cannot imagine the how vast of a number this is until we see it. A number is a number, but a picture says a thousand words. Imagine losing your mother, or father, or sister, or brother. Now imagine that 300,000 times over! The mourning is unbelievable. So what can we do?
The events of Haiti are horrible and unforgettable. It is one of those events that goes down in history and is remembered. Unfortunately we do not know what to do next. These people need help, but by helping them we help ourselves more (according to Sam). I don’t necessarily agree with this. By giving them resources like clean water and clothing we help them get started, even if this means increasing the U.S. economy. What is a few bottles of toothpaste or some shirts we already had lying around? The people of Haiti will not be lazy afterwards and assume they will get things for free. I mean it is their country and I doubt they will sit around in the rubble. Taking time off from our lives will not change the effects of Haiti. If it is your family, that is one thing. But there is no need for the entire U.S.A. to take a day off and help Haiti. So what do we do instead? We go on with our lives. There are already enough people helping out that more would make it impossible to get the job done. Yes we should still send people down to give others a break.
One student said that putting money in a bag or jar is pointless because you don’t know where it’s going. Well, Penn State Students, let’s look at Thon. We put dollars and quarters into our cans every year to an organization we trust. The same happens with Haiti. We put our money there in hopes that it will go to the right place.
We care as Americans about these problems, but not all of us can help out. So it seems from the outside that we do not care. It is judgmental to think that we do not care because we are not devoting every day to it. It is great to remember and keep these people in our thoughts and prayers, but stopping what we are doing seems unnecessary. So what do these 300,000 people mean to me? They mean opportunity. All of Haiti is starting on a clean slate. Unfortunately they are even far worse off than they already were. I am glad to give money for resources. I am thankful this did not happen to me or affect my family directly. Keep these people in our minds, thoughts, and prayers. Be Thankful for today.
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I think people's reaction to the situation in Haiti is because they don't have a direct connection to it. Its hard to comprehend a loss of life on that scale so most people kind of do the minimum (get bracelets, give a little money, etc.), but then they move on. You really can't expect people to do more than that when they don't feel a pull to do more. A lot of it may have to do with the fact that we've been exposed to a lot of devastation in our generation–9/11, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, tornados, etc.–and we may have just become desensitized, like it's just another day to us. And it seems like stuff is happening so often now that if you do choose to go the extra mile and donate your time to one cause, how do you choose which one to do? What makes one disaster more deserving of your attention than another? So maybe it's just easier for people to do the minimum for everything that way you have no guilt and you do a little something for everyone.
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I think that people are so preoccupied with themselves that they often forget there are other people in the world. I don't think it is a matter of people saying "I don't want to help", I think, in fact, that many people really do want to help. I think that people are so consumed with what's going on in the here and now in their own lives that donating money or time, or observing a few minutes of silence gets put on the bottom of the lists of things to do for the day. This donation of time or money or silence or whatever then eventually gets delayed so much that it is no longer relevant. We live in this culture that is so consumed with our own lives, and I think many of us often push these horrific tragedies aside after a few days because it does not directly effect us. As sad as it makes me feel to write this, I think it is very true.
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