Awareness

What does it mean to be aware in this day and age? In this seemingly hedonistic society fueled by semen, sweat, money and tears, being aware has taken a backseat to dulling the senses, the eyes, the mind, the heart, the soul. Every action seems to be an attempt to block some sense or memory, to distance oneself from the world. How important is it to be aware? Are we better off not knowing what is going on around us? Are we better off not being cognizant of the millions of children starving to death each day in the world? Not being empathetic to the thousands or millions of people going through civil wars, rebellions, economic upheaval, religious pogroms, ethnic cleansing, and opressive governments? Not seeing the homeless and the helpless? Is this state that we find ourselves in a blessing or a malediction? Should we be content with the sugar coated news that we find ourselves swimming in, or should we be asking for the horrid truth? Would the truth only scare us without making us better people, or would the truth about the world around us cause us to decide to clean ourselves up as a society?

I find myself struggling with this question daily, and I find myself wishing that I could know for sure that what I was hearing from the news was what is actually happening, and not what the government wants us to think is happening. I want to be able to see the filth and the contamination around me, to live in a defiled world where everything is not so pure and happy. I want to know my enemies. I want to see the world through the eyes of a child whose stomach has distended from malnutrition. I want to know what its like from the other side of the street.

But then I realize that I don't have the strength to walk across to the other side. I don't know if I could handle what I would see. But then I think that maybe I should anyway.