Does Julia Roberts have constipation too ?
We are great at dehumanizing the very rich and the very poor.

Julia Roberts just became a Mom for the first time. She must be in her late 30's, perhaps early 40's. She must have struggled with her pregnancy - constipation, back aches, morning sickness - the whole nine yards. However, since she is Julia Roberts, we cannot imagine her like that. She is perfect - how can she experience pain - like you and me?

Similarly, some one I know lost a child in India. He was born in a poor man's house in a village. The child died due to complications after the delivery and lack of medical facilities. We do not feel his pain. A friend casually remarked - "Well, this kinda stuff happens all the time in Indian villages". I am sure it does, but that does not reduce the family's pain. We some how assume that pain and suffering is our right only and the right of those who are like us.

My neighbor had the flu, I offered to run some errands for him. My wife was ill, I cooked, cleaned and let her get some rest. But I could never imagine Tom Cruise sneezing with the allergies or my Mexican grass mower getting sick with pollen.

They are both too distant, too far removed from my comfortable middle class suburban lifestyle. Try to remember, they are all human. A pretzel stuck in Dubya's throat will choke him just the same as the one stuck in Saddam's. Everyone is human and subject to the same pains and joys. The media should stop portraying them as demi-gods and above the rest of us. Similarly, they should stop classifying the poor as sub-human statistics only. "50 killed in suicide bomb attack" - Tell us about each of these persons - fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters. What were they like? What kind of clothes did they wear? Where did they go to school? I want to know so that we can identify with them and feel for them. Once we feel for them, we can do something and not distance ourselves from their troubles. We cannot insulate ourselves from the world.

Wake up, come out from the coccoon - start seeing everyone around you as an equal human being - from Julia Roberts and Tom Cruise to the Abu Ghraib prisoner standing on the box with the electrical wires attached to him. They're all the same people - all equal and all human,
- posted by PM @ 10:54 AM 0 comments