My head is hurting this week from the reading that I've been doing. I felt compelled to read the Big Issue and Amnesty magazine from cover-to-cover this week, as they often simply sit on the table and eventually end up in the recycling bin, or a child's craft project.
Taking time to read about how other's face life each day, whilst I sit here in the glorious sunshine that bathed Southsea today is quite mind boggling. And sending emails, writing letters and sending up prayers often seem rather lame. But I'd prefer to be informed than have my head in the sand, so maybe this is a week of finding richness in more?
Reading the Amnesty mag also gave me a bit of a window into the world that BBC news and our national newspapers just don't seem to think there is value (money?) in reporting. What makes some conflicts newsworthy and others not? What political power is involved? What corporate power? Or is it just that the public would tune out?
A collegue rather depressingly stated the other day 'people simply aren't interested in things that don't directly effect them'. Obviously it was somewhat of a sweeping statement, but how many people does that really apply to? All of us at points in our lives? Or the majority all the time? I hope not, and it hasn't been my experience of talking with others.
My mind just seems to be in overdrive about all this, this week, and I think it started when I saw 15 mins of a DVD entitled 'Jesus, Bombs & Icecream'. It's a film from a 90 minute variety show conceived by Shane Claiborne & Ben Cohen (of Ben & Jerry's). 15 mins was enough to get me angry about the state of our world. We'll be having a showing at our house in the near future (icrecream will be a highlight of the event!), but before then I want to find the stats that relate to the UK in comparison to those of the US. Should be an interesting, if not challenging night.
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