"Money always helps," Oprah said on her show the other day when talking about the tragedies in Africa. The stories presented were heartbreaking and I'll admit it my eyes welled up with tears. The genocide in Darfur and the plight of child soldiers and the night walkers trying to remain free in Northern Uganda and an other story about Africa that I can't remember now were the topics of the day. (Oprah is on at midnight here so I was a tired when it came on and don't remember all the details - forgive the memory lapse
Send money to organizations doing work in these areas. They need money to fund the programs rebuilding lives. George Clooney wants us to write our congressmen and urge them to send the US military in to stop the violence against the civilian population. Footage of dead bodies, especially children's bodies, really spurs a body to action. I've already sent the online postcard to my congressman who I know is already on board. As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on African Affairs, Barack Obama is well aware of the tragedies on that continent and will be joining Clooney at a rally this weekend in Washington about Darfur.
I will send some money to one of the charities Oprah suggested to help a little and ease the guilt of seldom knowing and rarely doing. My question is how much is Ms. Oprah going to be sending. Yes, she is a philanthropist and gives a lot of money to different charities, but she is wealthy. Does she really need so many houses when their are people who don't even have tents to shelter them from the desert sun? My father would say I'm sounding like a Democrat, "If everyone can't be happy then no one should be happy" but that isn't my intention. I just want to know that it's not just the dimes and nickels of the homebound, unemployed and insomniacs that are going to these worthy causes. Knowing that George Clooney, Lucy Liu and Oprah are interested and are doing something for these people is great. Now what about the average Joe and Jane who work all day, make a decent wage and sleep well at night. How are these people being reached? Do they know about the tragedies or the charities founded to help.
I am 40 years old and live in my own world filled with amusements for a 3 year old. I don't watch the news or read the paper, my schedule is too tight, I'm too tired or it's too depressing — you pick. Honestly I don't like feeling helpless or hopeless. But this show really was a kick in the face of reality. There are children who walk miles each night under a clear African sky with little more than stars to guide them to a cage to sleep in. Being locked up each night is the only way they can avoid being killed or kidnapped and forced to be soldiers or sex slaves for the rebels. I lock the doors each night because it's what you do, but I have never feared for my life.
My personal (not E related) worries include not having enough memory on my computer and having too much fat stored on my backside, not whether I will be killed or raped tonight. I don't want to change places by any means but I want to do something to help. Since watching this show I've begun to think I am just playing at life. It's all a bit surreal. There is no struggle or pain nor is there great joy or pleasure in my life. I was talking to an old friend who is now married and has 3 kids. When she answered the phone she and her husband were doing landscaping and her oldest was working on his homework. When I hung up I felt like she and I were playing at house. We were little girls pretending.
I used to give things 110%. I was passionate about things. I had causes. I was a leader. Now I am not. I have no passions but a list of passing interests. I can't even give a regular book for grown ups enough attention to finish it in a matter of months. I have shelves full of books that I haven't read that I bought because of one passion or another. The Green Team. Museum MA. I have too many daily life things to deal with to be actively living.
I would love to go to participate in the Global Night Commute this weekend but I don't know how I would do that with a 3 year old. He is too young to understand why Mommy is forcing him to be out in the cold of a late April night. If he were 7 or 8 he might be able to get it a little bit but not now.
When he is old enough to go to Chuck E Cheese's he will be old enough to become an activist. Hopefully he won't have to.
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