Im upset. The fact that my own friends refuse to acknowledge when theyve made a mistake has made me mad. To say that you need to experience (whatever that means) poverty to change you is problematic. Raise awareness is not a slogan - you dont tack it on to the end of everything and think it makes a cause (think: Leeanne Liebenbergs photoshopped cancer awareness picture - and if you dont think theres anything wrong with that then we really need to talk). Im privileged (as far as being a working, educated woman of South African Indian heritage can be), and middle class. I have not always been rich, and I have never been as poor as so many people I see everyday. I dont need to experience it either to know that starvation and lack of nutrition are horrendous things my own people have to go through because of greed and a history of people who refuse to make reparations for the past and leaders who forget their jobs. This is as bad as the Western companies who dont invest in ebola treatment until one of their own is dead (despite over 3000 deaths in another country). I dont need to experience a snake bite to know that that person may die if I dont help soon. Friends, I implore you, recognise youve done something wrong and go and help someone in need of it. And then, be sure not to tell Facebook about it.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 12:44:31 +0000