Musings

2 major natural disasters have hit Asia in the past month. Cyclone Nargis has devastated Burma (Myanmar), with at least 134,000 dead or missing, rice fields ruined and the crisis further exacerbated by the ruling military junta's reluctance to let in aid workers. An earthquake in China last week has left properties ruined and hundreds of thousands of people dead, with the death toll continuing to rise.

There is a global food crisis with dramatic food price increases leaving many in poor and undeveloped countries unable to obtain basic food necessities. There have been food riots and social unrest as a result.

Human slavery is still occurring today, despite its relatively low profile. There is widespread trafficking of women and children for sex exploitation, and there are people who are recruited for seemingly legitimate jobs but are later forced into exploitative and restrictive working environments.

More than 20% of people in developing countries live in extreme economic poverty, surviving on less than US$1 per day. Access to information, education, clean water, medical assistance and many other things that most of us take for granted, are limited or non-existent for many people in poor underdeveloped countries. Children die of starvation, or of illnesses that can be easily treated.

Tibetans are persecuted and treated as second class citizens in their homeland by the Chinese government. Burmese are forced to vote on a referendum strengthening the powers of the ruling junta days after a major cyclone killed their loved ones and destroyed their homes. Women in the Middle East are stoned, sidelined, tortured, or jailed for being a rape victim, or even something as small as going out without a male family escort. A woman lies dead in her flat for 35 years, and no one realised or cared about her shocking absence to go check on her.

We live in a world stricken with poverty, injustice, deprivation, and ugly loneliness, and most of us sit around, hang around, demanding, complaining, envying, and striving for luxuries for ourselves. Luxuries that we deem NECESSARY. Heck, I'm the same. DVDs that I just got to have. Clothes that I have to buy because they are on 'special'. Camembert cheese because they're so yummy. Chips in case I get cravings. Desserts because it's only normal to want something sweet after a meal. A gym membership because I have to work out all those desserts. I do not even have to go into Louis Vuitton to realise I surround myself with luxuries.

I realise... I claim a passion for social justice, for advocating for the voiceless, but really, truly, how much of my life, and my resources, do I give to the less fortunate? Similarly, I claim to be a Christian. But how much of my 'Christianity' actually goes beyond appearing at a church well-dressed, sometimes shabbily dressed, every Sunday?

I'm ashamed to admit I'm probably as much a fashionable facade as the hypocrites I abhor. Hmm I wonder, what do YOU do for the things/causes you claim passion for?