I watched the movie Blood Diamond, with Leonardo DiCaprio, last night. I sat alone, except for the puppy my digsmates and I found in the township, and cried. I cried for the 200 000 child soldiers in Africa that get so hooked on drugs and violence that they no longer recognize their families. I cried for the thousands and thousands of refugees who have nothing but themselves and the clothes on their backs. And I cried for the rest of us, every person who in the comfort of their homes, watches, cries and does nothing about the brutality and inhumanity that plagues our beautiful continent.
I know this is slightly of the topic of my blog – the world food crisis – but it is all the same thing when it comes to complacency in times of sheer desperation.
The most heartbreaking moment in Blood Diamond was, for me, when Solomon Vandy, a man searching desperately for his wife, daughters and son, looks with hope to Jennifer Connelly’s character (a hardcore journalist) and asks if the people in her country, whom she is writing for, will hear about the atrocities in his country and send help. Connelly, with the cold honesty of a journalist who has seen it all, says, “No”.
This is the revolting truth; that we will shed a couple of tears, maybe even start a half-hearted campaign for the cause, but eventually we become wrapped up in our own lives and forget about our responsibility to humankind. It’s “just human error” we say – convenience and complacency always win out.
We have only one life to live, why use it to take rather than give?
If you haven’t seen the movie yet, watch Blood Diamond, it’s a wake-up call like no other. Oh, and don’t forget about the hands that get chopped off so that we get to have a pretty diamond ring on our engagement finger.
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