TheBanyanTree: what if.....

[Monique Colver]

And if instead of political campaigns spending so much money, they could
use to to . . . do something else.

I have lots of things I wish for too.

But we need entertainment. A world without entertainment is dark and grey,
at least for those who go in for that sort of thing. Americans flock to
movies, stupid and otherwise, because it takes us away from our day-to-day
lives, it makes us laugh or it makes us feel something we don't get a
chance to feel when we're in an office 8 to 10 hours a day. For some of us,
the craft of making a movie is something we study, we take an interest in
its intricacy and the methods used to tell a story. We watch sporting
events because we can identify with being on one side or the other, we have
a sense of community with our team and its fans, and we can imagine that if
our team wins, we're winners too.

Sometimes we need that. People are all different, and most of us, even
entertainers and athletes, are just trying to get through our own lives.
Entertainers don't always know where their next job is coming from, or if
there will be one. Athletes can be injured and not be able to work again.
It happens far too often. They have issues just like the rest of us.

I may go to a movie today. Should I instead send the money to Isaiah, my
child in Kenya? I send money each month so now he can go to school and he
gets enough food. Should I send money that I would otherwise spend on
movies and concerts and sports?

The cool thing about society is that there are so many different facets,
there are so many different kinds of people. Personally, I'd rather not see
one more homeless veteran standing on the street corner with a sign, but
other than hand him some cash there's little that I personally can do about
it, and I refuse to feel guilty for not saving the world. I wouldn't
presume to tell anyone else what to do with their time and money, because I
would hate for anyone else to tell me what to do with mine.

We can't stop hunger with one all-out effort, not without stopping the
underlying reasons it exists. After we feed everyone, they'll be hungry
again when we go away and return to our lives. Unless I'm willing to join
the Peace Corps and tromp on over and take care of things myself, I could
never expect others to do the same. It's cool when people do, of course,
but most people wouldn't.

My husband was in Lutheran Volunteer Corp. He gave a year of his life to
working with people with Alzheimers, day in and day out, with only a small
stipend to cover living expenses. He did that because he wanted to, but
after his year was up there were still Alzheimers patients needing help.
There will always be people needing more help than we can provide, no
matter how many of us work at it.

We're all entitled to have our own lives, and do what we want with them,
and that is what I wish for everyone.

I can't save the world, and neither can athletes nor entertainers nor
politicians, for that matter. All I can do is save one little boy named
Isaiah right now, and that will have to do.

I'm going to go see a movie today. Some people may think it's stupid, but
so what? We're all just living our lives the best we can. Oh, and I'm going
to a concert Wednesday, even though I'm fairly certain Linkin Park already
has more than enough money. What they do with it is not my concern -- I can
only be responsible for myself.


Monique Colver
An Uncommon Friendship: a memoir of love, mental illness, and friendship
Now available at
Amazon<http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Monique+Colver>
and
at www.AnUncommonFriendship.com <http://anuncommonfriendship.com/>
www.ColverPress.com
monique.colver at gmail.com
(425) 772-6218



On Sun, Sep 2, 2012 at 9:05 AM, Sachet <MountainWhisper at att.net> wrote:

> Sometimes, when I see the stupid movie advertisements or watch sports
> information, I contemplate how much money is spent on these things in one
> single year. And I consider that if our nation sent all the money from
> movie tickets or from game tickets to a food fund, we could wipe out hunger
> around the world. Just the US alone could do that.
>
> It's mind boggling how much money is spent on things that don't save lives
> or feed children, but is instead spent on entertainment.
>
> And when I ponder what all the athletes and actors could do instead of
> what they do now, (just for a year even) I think of how they could heft
> bags of food instead of lift weights and tell stories to hone their craft
> instead of portray violent characters.
>
> Wishful thinking......
>