Ashley Mwanza

Many a time I ask people “did you hear about this.., that..?” in many cases it’s always “NO”, is it ignorance or simply lack of interest? Ask a group of people questions such as; 'Who is the president of France? Who is the president of Mali? Where is Samoa? What rivers flow through Africa? And you'll find that the knowledge will be devastatingly low. Somewhere within our own lives as a people, as a race, we have failed ourselves.

Surely how can you tell me you have never heard of Samoa days after the news was ablaze of the small island’s devastation by an earthquake-generated tsunami which left casualties of over 1000. Some by now are asking, “really how did I miss that, where, when”? Well ask yourself what your role is in this world. Is it about your world or the about our world? How many times have you heard someone say “my geography is poor”? As humans we always have an excuse, don’t we? Well then if your geography is poor make an effort to improve it. Or is it the ignorance syndrome, “it’s happening over there so it does not concern me.”

Do you know the difference between ignorance and apathy? The unfortunate answer by most people is “I do not know and I do not care.” Sadly, that is the very truth of that statement and is the very heart of what is wrong with society today and why our world has been allowed to become what it is today.

Quite simply, this is the end result when we the people, allow ourselves to become over-complacent in both our ignorance and our apathy. "When I read the newspaper, I don't want to read about what's going on in Bosnia! I'm looking for the new wedding dress fashions and the latest gossip, etc." What makes a person totally ignore other people's pains and cut themselves off from the world? It's like these people live in their own bubbles and they refuse to acknowledge that other people exist besides themselves. Whilst watching the news a report comes up of a bomb in Iraq killing 30 civilians, followed by a report of how a young man got stabbed to death. No response from the viewer. The next report: "Tomorrow there will be rain." Only then does the viewer react: "What!?! Rain!?! Oh no! I can’t wear my new jeans!" It seems like we totally ignore that fact that lives are been lost. Remember, "A person is a person because he recognizes others as persons", Desmond Tutu.

"Often, for economic reasons, common diseases in developing countries are neglected because, even though they afflict and kill millions of people, they do not constitute a lucrative enough market," Archbishop Zimowski said recently. He made an urgent appeal that the poorest people in the world may have access to needed medicines. He said that because of the global economic crisis, health care for the ill in developing countries, especially for children, has been cut back even more, with tragic consequences. And now fake drugs have taken over, fake or diluted drugs can result in prolonged illness or death or can lead to the development of drug-resistant bacteria, he said. The World Health Organization contends that in regions of Southeast Asia and Latin America, as many as 30 percent of medicines could be fake. Archbishop Zimowski said: "The manipulation and falsification of medicines, primarily affects children. Fake antibiotics and fake vaccinations cause grave harm to their health. There are many deaths because of respiratory illnesses among African children, because they are treated with false antibiotics that don't have an active ingredient, but which are sold at high prices," he said. Now counterfeit medication is an ethical emergency in developing countries. This my fellow citizens of the world, is the true cost of ignorance and apathy.

Do I hear, “oh well there is nothing I can do about it”? Really? Whatever happened to the notion my brother and sister’s keeper? If it not my business, then whose is it? Why should we look on and not act? Fellow citizens of the world let us break this egotistical society that we live in? Yes we can! You and me, us all. Let us nip it in the bud before it escalates.

To change the world, Harry Belafonte says, you must make a conscious decision to be an agent of change. The agenda of things to do is abundant. The point is: what do you want to do? To what extent does all of this (happenings in the world) affect you enough to want to take the high ground and make a difference? As citizens of the world we must start to realise and understand that the weakest link in our chain is our indifference to the sufferings of other people.

One of the main problems is that we don't see other people as our brothers and sisters. We see them as black, white, Asian, Hispanic, gay, straight, wealthy, poor, young, old, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Jew, Taoist, democrat, conservative, labour, republican, green etc. See these divisions do exactly what they are supposed to do, divide. Because you don’t feel like someone is your brother, you don’t care about them, you have no interest in them nor their status quo. Most people are only concerned with self, they don’t care what’s happening in another neighbourhood as long as it’s not theirs, let alone another entire country. Even the most compassionate, aware, and righteous fall victim to this (lack of sensitivity) daily. Think about it, how many times have you ignored a homeless person on the street as if they didn't even exist, as if they weren't human, deserving the same respect as any other man. Far too often people equate money with respect, and that’s irrational. Monetary wealth says nothing about a person, other than that they are to some degree fortunate, however those without wealth we choose to ignore as if they were invisible. Simply because for any good person it’s a painful reality. It hurts to see people suffering, struggling, to see them in such horrible states. We don’t want to face it, and instead of trying to find a solution we run from it, acting like it doesn’t exist, and hence the problems remain.

Everyone has an important role to play in changing this world for the betterment of humanity. We are all interconnected, so one's behaviour, and or attitude influences others automatically, no matter how small it is. That's why by doing what we are supposed to do, play our positive role, we can change the world.

In the words of the late Michael Jackson, ”If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change!” We can only change the world if we are all willing to be part of the change. Change can only come to us if we dignify ourselves, because if we dignify ourselves then we can dignify others regardless of who they are.

Change is inevitable but it only comes to those who have the will to be part of the change. Tyranny and terrorism feeds off poverty, racism, sexism, wars and above all else ignorance. All the things we say we would like to rid the world of, we have got to stop fuelling. We have got to come to the belief that we must be more generous and more benevolent as a human race.

Your role is not to be the most famous person in the world, but you can help fill in spots, and offer great support at the right times. You can't find a role without looking at the world, and the trends or crises.

In conclusion, in the words of Harry Belafonte, "If we do not make a choice to make a difference, we then have made the choice to be crushed by indifference."