I just finished reading the book "Displaced Reflections" by Oddny Gumaer. Together with pictures of internally displaced persons (refugees in their own country), she writes about her experiences in Burma (now Myanmar) from a real and raw perspective. Her writing really resonated with me and I'd like to share some of it with you. You can find out more about her and her work with Partners Relief & Development at partnersworld.ca
THINGS THAT DON'T GO AWAY
"Perhaps the mess in the bedroom will go away if I do not go in there. Could it be that by not thinking about them, the calories in the cake I just ate will disappear?
Sometimes I do the same thing with suffering in the world. I turn the switch off in my head and believe that as long as the volume is on mute, there is nothing happening that I need to worry about. As long as I switch the channel on the TV away from upsetting news about children starving to a channel with a relaxing comedy, I am safe. I can't be blamed for something I do not know about.
If I go about my very important business of doing the things that I think are very important, I do not have to think about the uncomfortable stories of children being taken away from their parents and tortured to death, of families hiding in unsafe places with nothing to eat and only each others' horror-stricken faces as a shield of protection against a brutal enemy. If I just do not think about it, it may not actually be happening."
No comments:
Post a Comment