The Stylus

Issue date: 2/3/10 Section: Campus Talk

From Conan to Balloon Boy to "Jersey Shore," America's infatuations have steadily grown from distasteful to disturbing. These are the topics that should go ignored - but instead are making headlines and headways into our everyday lives.

In last week's Stylus, there were articles on Tiger Woods and Disney, yet not one of them gave note to the tragedy in Haiti. I understand in our culture, these are the types of things talked about in class or with friends. Haiti can seem like a far away, distant country. People see it only as someone else's nightmare.

But if there is one thing I learned from my trip to Ghana, it's the horrors in other countries are one mere plane ride away. We act as if others problems don't matter as much as our own. At times, I was embarrassed to admit I was an American to the Ghanaian people.

I know a lot of students aren't able to donate to relief funds. I have about $3 in my account right now after buying books. But doesn't Haiti at least deserve our attention? In the last couple of days, I've heard more about Guidos than what's going on in Haiti.

If you can't donate money, donate your compassion. I'm tired of ignorance when a few clicks on the Internet can cure it.

I saw a Facebook status the other day that said something along the lines of: "Shame on you America: the only country where we have homeless without shelter, children going to bed without eating … yet we have a benefit for the people of Haiti on 12 TV stations."

How selfish. Yes, we have our own problems, but why can't we address Haiti's need as well?

It's frustrating to realize people plain just don't care about the rest of the world.

This inattention phenomenon was happening way before Haiti, too. The ongoing tragedies in third world countries are rarely covered in the media. As one of the poorest countries in the world, Haiti should have deserved our support long before the earthquake.

I learned an overwhelming fact in my environmental science class: While you and I eat dinner tonight, more than 1,400 humans will die of diseases related to starvation or malnutrition. Most of them will be children under the age of 5.

By next year, that number will grow to 15 million. This is the biggest famine in world history - but I've heard little to nothing about it.

As we drove through the streets of Ghana so many hands would reach out to our bus for food. A vast majority of them were children, working to sell things on the streets on a 100 degree day. I felt sick to my stomach when I would eat at a restaurant later that day. I'm so lucky to have never known hunger.

If I grew up in Ghana, I would only be expected to live until the age of 60. As it is, I have another twenty years of life because I'm an American. This staggering fact, among others, shouldn't make Americans feel self-important. Instead, as the richest country in the world, we should be aware of what we have and help those in need whenever we can.

It seems we don't act as lucky as we really are. Our age group places importance on such superficial and materialistic things. Let's forget about Tiger Woods sex scandal.

Please, next time a rerun of "Teen Mom" comes on, turn the channel to the news. Know and understand the tragedies in the world so you may be more grateful for life here in America.

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