We're all connected and we should all help

SOCIAL STUDIES - Published Tuesday January 19th, 2010

A friend pointed out that no matter how many times they show starving children from Africa on television, it will never have the same affect on him as the SPCA ad where abused animals are featured to the soundtrack of Sarah McLaughlin.

I suspect he is not alone. Nor is this specific illustration the only one it applies to. I find myself really, really upset when I hear about the mistreatment of animals. Not only that, but if I see something in the movies where an animal is tortured or killed, I react much more strongly than if it was a human being.

I don't like seeing human beings tortured, or killed, or starved, or drowned, or done in by any other violent act. I am not trying to say that I am OK with humans being tortured but not animals; I am simply saying that my visceral, "oh that is terrible" reaction is stronger when I see it happen to animals.

When I stop and think about this, I wonder why it is true.

There are a number of possibilities. Perhaps we have been so inundated with the plight of the poor that we no longer really feel anything when we are told someone is starving. Really, tragedy happens almost daily now. There are famines and floods, warfare and corrupt leaders, all of which contribute to the mess we have made of this world.

Some of it is our own fault, like warfare or soil erosion; but too often it is simply fate that sends a Tsunami, or destroys a city with an earthquake.

Don't get me wrong. When we hear of Port-au-Prince and the devastation and destruction they are facing in Haiti we do feel sorry for them. Almost everyone does. But it no longer moves us to tears. Nor does the feeling stick with us; I imagine many of you may have already set that bit of news aside by the time you read this column five days later.

So why tears when faced with an SPCA ad? Could it be that somewhere deep down we really do feel that human beings have the possibility of helping themselves; where animals do not? Do we feel more responsible for animals than for other humans?

Well, certainly they seem more helpless, more dependent, and therefore more in need.

But are the people in Haiti not helpless, dependant and in need right now too?

Of course they are.

Is compassion a limited resource? I don't think this is true. So what else stops us from feeling the full extent of tragedies that surround us?

I wonder what television has done to us. Since we have seen everything we can imagine happen on the big and little screen, has it built up a tolerance for real life disaster and violence? Or more pointedly, has it made everything we see seem fake whether it is or not?

I went to see the movie Avatar over the holidays, it was the best movie ever, and one of the things I have told people made it so good was that it was seamless in its integration of animation and real life. I honestly forgot that some characters, animals, and habitats were actually just cartoons. It seemed totally real.

Well, reverse that, if anything I can imagine can be made to look completely real on the screen; then what faculty do I trust in terms of determining credibility?

If you show me a starving girl, is she really starving or just made to look that way? Is she really in Africa or is that a backdrop in Los Angeles? Was that really an earthquake, or is it just some CGI animation? I watched my brother's production company "create" the Halifax Explosion for a movie. Perhaps it was a bit of history, but I also know it can be faked.

Which is not to say I think anyone is faking a natural disaster, or hunger, or pain of any sort. I am talking about our subconscious minds.

Perhaps it is easier to dismiss tragedy because we have seen so much staged tragedy as part of our 'entertainment.' Could that be true?

Is it easier not to think about because somewhere deep inside you suspect you could just change the channel and it would go away?

Here is the thing I have come to realize: tragedy is closer than you think.

People die all around you every day; and most of them were completely unprepared for it.

There is some chance that a hurricane, or earthquake, or tornado, or nuclear accident, or any number of catastrophic things might happen to devastate our part of the world. We should not think so much in terms of us and them, and pretend like we might never be on the receiving end of tragedy.

At the same time, we should work on getting in touch with the actual 'tragic' part of tragedy. Life is short as it is, and to have it ripped away unexpectedly is always an incredibly sad thing. We cannot let the frequency of tragedy, or the artful portrayal of death on television dry up what should be our real feelings.

We are connected to each other. That is true whether you are next door or thousands of miles away. The truth is that we all feel pain and loss, and it is never a good thing. Anything we can do to help one another should be done. At least, it's a start.