I gulp down the last dregs of my double-shot-espresso. I tap my finger impatiently, where is my banana and mango smoothie, I wonder to myself. Seconds later, the apologetic waiter hurries over and graciously presents my glass of golden gooey goodness. 600ml of the freshest, sweetest mangos, squeezed before my very eyes, and mixed with overripe frozen bananas blended to an ice-cream consistency. Egypt has the most amazing- the most exquisitely tasting- fruit you will ever try.
I am in front of my computer at a café, literally 5m from the softly lapping shores of the Red Sea. The water today is dark blue and crystal clear, it beats a soft melody of distant seagulls, rustling palm branches and splashing kids. I watch as a teenager, balancing on the edge of a bobbing, splintered row-boat, bends his knees and dives heads first into the water. His splash hardly makes a ripple on the tranquil surface of the turquoise blue.
The scene is Instagram-picture-perfect. But my thoughts are elsewhere. I am buried in the day’s world news headlines- google tab after google tab drags me further away from the perfectness of my surroundings.
I imagine the scene as a poster- the distant desert mountains, the hazy waves of heat, the rippling currents of blue-ocean and the sea-salt breeze. I imagine myself ripping an eye sized hole with my finger through the thin paper of the poster. I imagine myself taking a step back and hesitantly peering through the hole. I see the other side.
I rip the hole a little wider and suddenly my finger slips and tears the poster in half.
I think, how delicate that poster was, how easy it was to rip, how quickly my Instagram-picture-perfect scene can be torn from me.
****
Terrible things seem to be happening to undeserving people a lot lately.
The first thing that jumps into my mind is the recent ‘re-modelling’ of the Gaza strip by the artistically impaired Israeli military which has resulted in the deaths of several hundred civilians and Palestinian fighters (there seems thin line dividing the two).
Opening a newspaper, I am reminded about the Malaysian airlines flight shot down just a few days ago which resulted in, once again, the deaths of several hundred innocents. In a bold move, the UN was quick to ‘officially’ condemn the Russian separatists (WOW!) who shot it down.
Apparently 37 Australians were killed in the tragedy.
But what is happening in other parts of the world?
Meanwhile…. in Africa
In a dawn raid yesterday morning, the Islamic rebel group Boko Haram attacked several villages in North-Eastern Nigeria with homemade bombs and RPGs.
They then gunned down the fleeing survivors. Over 100 people lost their lives. Several hundred more are now on the run. The attacks are expected to continue.
Meanwhile…. in South Asia
Approximately 30 Taliban insurgents have been killed by US drone strikes over the past week in the contested Pakistani border area of Waziristan.
Good news you might say? At the same time, as a result of both a re-launched military offensive by the Pakistani military and increased drone strikes by the brave pilots defending the US homeland from the air-conditioned comfort of a Californian airbase , an estimated 800, 000 people have been forced to flee to neighboring towns and cities for safety.
For some perspective, Adelaide’s population is about 1.2 million.
Meanwhile…. in Egypt
The Australian Al-Jazeera journalist, Peter Greste, is still being held by the Egyptian military government after 204 days on charges of inciting terrorism ect. ect.
In a trail held last week, he has been controversially sentenced to 10 years prison. The Australian government (and people) have mostly left him out to dry.
During his trial, the prosecution used the pop song ‘Somebody I Used to Know’ by the Australian singer Goyte as evidence of Greste’s overwhelming guilt.
Meanwhile… in Thailand
A six month investigation has revealed that large numbers of men are “brought and sold like animals” to work on fishing ships which supply fish-meal to some of the world’s largest seafood suppliers.
Escaped trafficking victims describe seeing as many as 20 people killed in front of them, some tied limb by limb to the bows of four boats and pulled apart at sea.
According to the International Labour Organisation, Thailand’s trafficked fishermen make up only a small number of the 21 million worldwide men, women and children who live in slavery today.
***
Being careful not to trivialise anything, shouldn’t the deaths and suffering of people everywhere be making world news? Why does only a select few events manage to grab global attention?
On skype later that morning, my Mum sums it up perfectly.
“Jed, you have to be careful right now, there is a lot of a things happening in the world right now.”
It becomes all too easy to only care about things we are told we should care about. To imagine our Instagram-picture-perfect lives as posters, blue-tacked to our bedroom walls. But what lays beneath those posters?
Your thoughts are more than welcome….
Jed Anderson-Habel
I am in front of my computer at a café, literally 5m from the softly lapping shores of the Red Sea. The water today is dark blue and crystal clear, it beats a soft melody of distant seagulls, rustling palm branches and splashing kids. I watch as a teenager, balancing on the edge of a bobbing, splintered row-boat, bends his knees and dives heads first into the water. His splash hardly makes a ripple on the tranquil surface of the turquoise blue.
The scene is Instagram-picture-perfect. But my thoughts are elsewhere. I am buried in the day’s world news headlines- google tab after google tab drags me further away from the perfectness of my surroundings.
I imagine the scene as a poster- the distant desert mountains, the hazy waves of heat, the rippling currents of blue-ocean and the sea-salt breeze. I imagine myself ripping an eye sized hole with my finger through the thin paper of the poster. I imagine myself taking a step back and hesitantly peering through the hole. I see the other side.
I rip the hole a little wider and suddenly my finger slips and tears the poster in half.
I think, how delicate that poster was, how easy it was to rip, how quickly my Instagram-picture-perfect scene can be torn from me.
****
Terrible things seem to be happening to undeserving people a lot lately.
The first thing that jumps into my mind is the recent ‘re-modelling’ of the Gaza strip by the artistically impaired Israeli military which has resulted in the deaths of several hundred civilians and Palestinian fighters (there seems thin line dividing the two).
Opening a newspaper, I am reminded about the Malaysian airlines flight shot down just a few days ago which resulted in, once again, the deaths of several hundred innocents. In a bold move, the UN was quick to ‘officially’ condemn the Russian separatists (WOW!) who shot it down.
Apparently 37 Australians were killed in the tragedy.
But what is happening in other parts of the world?
Meanwhile…. in Africa
In a dawn raid yesterday morning, the Islamic rebel group Boko Haram attacked several villages in North-Eastern Nigeria with homemade bombs and RPGs.
They then gunned down the fleeing survivors. Over 100 people lost their lives. Several hundred more are now on the run. The attacks are expected to continue.
Meanwhile…. in South Asia
Approximately 30 Taliban insurgents have been killed by US drone strikes over the past week in the contested Pakistani border area of Waziristan.
Good news you might say? At the same time, as a result of both a re-launched military offensive by the Pakistani military and increased drone strikes by the brave pilots defending the US homeland from the air-conditioned comfort of a Californian airbase , an estimated 800, 000 people have been forced to flee to neighboring towns and cities for safety.
For some perspective, Adelaide’s population is about 1.2 million.
Meanwhile…. in Egypt
The Australian Al-Jazeera journalist, Peter Greste, is still being held by the Egyptian military government after 204 days on charges of inciting terrorism ect. ect.
In a trail held last week, he has been controversially sentenced to 10 years prison. The Australian government (and people) have mostly left him out to dry.
During his trial, the prosecution used the pop song ‘Somebody I Used to Know’ by the Australian singer Goyte as evidence of Greste’s overwhelming guilt.
Meanwhile… in Thailand
A six month investigation has revealed that large numbers of men are “brought and sold like animals” to work on fishing ships which supply fish-meal to some of the world’s largest seafood suppliers.
Escaped trafficking victims describe seeing as many as 20 people killed in front of them, some tied limb by limb to the bows of four boats and pulled apart at sea.
According to the International Labour Organisation, Thailand’s trafficked fishermen make up only a small number of the 21 million worldwide men, women and children who live in slavery today.
***
Being careful not to trivialise anything, shouldn’t the deaths and suffering of people everywhere be making world news? Why does only a select few events manage to grab global attention?
On skype later that morning, my Mum sums it up perfectly.
“Jed, you have to be careful right now, there is a lot of a things happening in the world right now.”
It becomes all too easy to only care about things we are told we should care about. To imagine our Instagram-picture-perfect lives as posters, blue-tacked to our bedroom walls. But what lays beneath those posters?
Your thoughts are more than welcome….
Jed Anderson-Habel