Slaves in the 21st century
The other day I had the opportunity to see Lisa Kristine and Kevin Bales’ TED lectures on slavery in the 21st century.
Shocking. There are more slaves today than at the time of its greatest historical peak. Lisa puts a face on them, as well as a first and last name, and Kevin explains in detail how easily a person in need can fall into this underworld.
They are worth seeing, as well as it is worth being outraged and acting…
One Tsunami a month…
What if every month there was an earthquake or Tsunami that killed 80,000 people? Surely it would be the front page of newspapers and headlines of all the news …
And surely we would feel heartbroken and powerless for not being able to do anything to avoid those deaths …
We cannot avoid a tsunami or an earthquake. However, we can prevent, for example, that malaria continues to claim human lives. Malaria is like a tsunami or earthquake that kills 80,000 people every month.
Tragedies
“Tragedy”… One looks scared at the shocking headline of the newspaper, not necessarily a sports newspaper, thinking about what disaster may have happened in the last hours.
Is it a mass murder? Is it referring to humanitarian disasters like Darfur? No, it must be something to do with child soldiers and the thousands who die each year in African guerrillas. No, not that either. Well, if not, it must clearly refer to the ravages of AIDS in Africa and the millions of orphaned children without hope of a better future…
How naive. At that moment a friend tells me if I had heard about the defeat of his team in the Champions League final. Yes, man, 4-0.
What is happening to us all? Is that a tragedy? Why don’t we put everything in its place and give it its right importance?
My friend also tells me that on that day many families did not have dinner… Well, now that really is a show of solidarity with the poor African children who go to sleep every day without eating a bite …
