I was reading a blog entry yesterday in which the person stated something to the effect of -- We should cherish each and every day. On one level, I certainly echo this sentiment. Life is a gift, one we shouldn't waste. On the other hand, however, this kind of sentiment largely is dependent on the type of lives we lead in the so-called civilized western world. We're actually at a liberty to enjoy our lives in a way that many others are not.
If a person lives a life of grinding poverty -- and I don't mean the kind of poverty in most of the locales of the US, Canada, Europe or Japan -- I bet it might be hard to see what there is to cherish. I'm certainly NOT suggesting that a person's outlook is solely based upon economic standing, but if each day is a mighty struggle to find enough food to meet one-half a person's necessary nutritional needs, I'm not altogether sure if the word cherish is appropriate!
What about those people who live in constant terror due to war? Again, I'm not sure if they would cherish their daily horror show. People who are enslaved or brutally oppressed may not value every breath as much as the next person.
In my humble opinion, one of the reasons many of us westerners have a false sense of the world in which we live is because we converse with each other via this medium and we don't get to hear the voices of those without internet access or computer literacy. We are conversant only with those who lead similar lifestyles.
On Wikipedia, there's a graphic of internet connection rates as of the year 2000. In most of the world, less than 750 per 10,000 people had internet connections! While I'm certain strides have been made in the past 9 years, we do need to recognize that far more than one-half of the people in this world will neither read nor comment on this or any other blog entry because they either aren't computer literate or have no internet access or both!
We each need to keep this in mind as we contemplate, theorize and pontificate. The world we know most likely is foreign to most of the world's inhabitants. A principle that we may state as universal most likely is only universal to a select few.
We need to be ever cognizant of the fact that many life stories will not find their way to the blogoshere, in specific, and the internet, in general. Regardless of how well off each of us may think ourselves to be, in relation to so many others, we are each privileged.
If a person lives a life of grinding poverty -- and I don't mean the kind of poverty in most of the locales of the US, Canada, Europe or Japan -- I bet it might be hard to see what there is to cherish. I'm certainly NOT suggesting that a person's outlook is solely based upon economic standing, but if each day is a mighty struggle to find enough food to meet one-half a person's necessary nutritional needs, I'm not altogether sure if the word cherish is appropriate!
What about those people who live in constant terror due to war? Again, I'm not sure if they would cherish their daily horror show. People who are enslaved or brutally oppressed may not value every breath as much as the next person.
In my humble opinion, one of the reasons many of us westerners have a false sense of the world in which we live is because we converse with each other via this medium and we don't get to hear the voices of those without internet access or computer literacy. We are conversant only with those who lead similar lifestyles.
On Wikipedia, there's a graphic of internet connection rates as of the year 2000. In most of the world, less than 750 per 10,000 people had internet connections! While I'm certain strides have been made in the past 9 years, we do need to recognize that far more than one-half of the people in this world will neither read nor comment on this or any other blog entry because they either aren't computer literate or have no internet access or both!
We each need to keep this in mind as we contemplate, theorize and pontificate. The world we know most likely is foreign to most of the world's inhabitants. A principle that we may state as universal most likely is only universal to a select few.
We need to be ever cognizant of the fact that many life stories will not find their way to the blogoshere, in specific, and the internet, in general. Regardless of how well off each of us may think ourselves to be, in relation to so many others, we are each privileged.
Hi R T
ReplyDeleteI decided to comment. Like I said I read your posts and feel somewhat inept in my response. But what the heck? Right?
I agree that people forced to live in war, starvation, oppression, violence, fear and on and on surely don't see the 'gift' in the day. Maybe they do though, perhaps there is something they are holding on to something that makes life worth it. But I don't know really.
And I must admit, I, with all my privilege can actually think I have a bad day at times. My goodness. I guess it's all relative, huh?
Love Gail
peace