Y’know, my friends, something has been nagging at me this past week. I started to write about it a few days ago, then changed my mind, but it keeps weighing heavily on my mind and … I need to share my thoughts with you.
First, though, let me make it clear that I think any loss of life, especially under tragic circumstances, is sad. I do not wish death on anyone, ever.
Having said that, I find it disturbing that this nation – the media and the public – have been far more engrossed in and concerned with the fate of five men on an adventure of their choosing in a mini-submarine than with the Greek fishing boat that sunk, killing some 700+ migrants. Are the lives of five very wealthy people, in fact, worth more than the lives of more than 700 people fleeing Syria, Pakistan and Egypt? Not only that, but the time and money spent on the search and rescue operations for the mini-sub far exceeded any efforts to rescue the people on the fishing boat. WHY???
Between the time the mini-sub went off the radar until it was determined to have imploded, there were no less than twelve mass shootings in the U.S., but did you hear about any of them in the news? Thirteen lives were lost in those mass shootings, more than double the number of lives lost in the mini-sub.
Again, I do have empathy for the families of those five men who died tragically. I have more empathy, however, for the 700+ migrants – many of them children – who were just seeking a safe place to live, or the people who were killed by gun violence, or even in auto accidents. We know exactly who the five men in the mini-sub were … we know their names, their backgrounds, and have seen their pictures. Doesn’t anybody care who those migrants were?
This seems to me yet another example of America’s wealth worship. Each of the five men aboard the mini-sub paid a quarter of a million dollars for the ‘privilege’ of being cramped up in a small space and transported to the wreck of the Titanic for not much reason other than for bragging rights. Sadly, their ‘adventure’ ended tragically, but … I cannot find it in my heart to think of it as the biggest tragedy of the week, as the media has made it out to be. If they had been just average Joes without billions of dollars to waste, would we have seen non-stop coverage for days about their possible fate?
I think perhaps our priorities are skewed if we place more importance on five people with great wealth than we place on those fighting for their survival. It seems indicative of an even bigger problem. Your thoughts?
First off, do not worry about the economy. There is nothing to worry about. Who’s worried? If you were to worry, that would make the economy second-guess itself and grow agitated. Don’t worry about the economy. It’s fine. Worry about the Space Command.
Filosofa's Word 