To Each Their Own Perspective

During the last outreach a satellite system was installed on the ship that allows the ship to receive a few television shows. One that has been very popular with the crew is the Animal Planet. Today I ate lunch in the midship's lounge, instead of the dining room, and one of the kids was watching a program on endangered gorillas in Africa. It followed Natalie Portman (an American actress) through the Republic of the Congo and Rwanda as she visited different rescue projects and narrated the show.

It was beautiful. The countryside and all of the forest were lush and green and the gorillas were strong and beautiful. The show was very heartfelt and Natalie was an excellent narrator. But the entire time I watched it I kept thinking am I crazy? Is she talking about gorillas or humans? Is this heart wrenching story of sadness and survival about poor African people trying to survive in a developing country or about some animals living in the jungles of Africa? Now I am a huge animal lover and am in no way promoting an attitude that animals do not need to be cared for and protected. But the entire time I watched the show I thought how much better this world might be if people would put this type of money and time into promoting injustices happening to humans around the world. She spoke about "how beautiful the animals were and how tragic their lives were". That they were "hunted and often the parents died leaving orphans behind". They even gave facts: in 2007, four gorilla babies were orphaned and had to be rehabilitated in the Republic of the Congo.

I don't know. Maybe I am comparing apples to oranges. Maybe it is all fruit and depending on your perspective it is all injustice that shows how damaged our world is. I just know that there are hundreds of human children being orphaned everyday around the world because of civil unrest, war, AIDS, starvation, preventable diseases, and unclean water. I know that they are beautiful and have horrific stories to tell. What I don't know is how I am going to end this blog entry. This really is one of the many thoughts racing through my head that I am not sure I will ever have answers for. Because it does depend on perspective. I feel a bit awkward ending this blog with my rant...

Well in other news, my lovely friend Nadine here has added her opinion on life, and she says,
"God is good. All the time."

Love you. Miss you. And thank you. I hope my rant gives you something to think about.