Passive Cooperation
I watched Blood Diamond last night and I had to take a second after it finished to remove the bullet and blood taste lingering in my mouth. It is one of those movies that reminds you there’s a price to be paid for all the modern “conveniences” we have.
Looking to create some moral conscience, the movie shows how people get killed in Africa because of an ongoing war for diamonds and a government that doesn´t want to regain control. It ends up with an idiotic phrase that read: “Do not buy conflict diamonds” (the whole plot showed how mayor jewel stores mix conflict diamonds with regular ones, the phrase should’ve been “Do not buy diamonds”).
With a firm belief of never buying diamonds I started considering how a passive society actually contributes to these situations. Not only with diamonds, but what about oil, ivory and corruption? The worst thing is we simply sit back at home telling ourselves “Mexico’s one of those exploited countries” “What are we supposed to do?”, “That’s the way things are”.
I say: no! I say: Stop it!
It is our duty as a society, as citizens, as individuals to fight to stop this things from happening. I am not saying we should take arms and go to Africa or the Congress but instead we should at least say something!
What’s left for us when this comfortable life transforms us into consumist animals? When we view world issues as something happening in a distant land and people who do not behave like it are viewed as paranoid schizophrenic, what’s left? I know brilliant people who believe they should use all their potential to stand out so that when they’re set and comfortable they can forget about everything. I’ll lay it out straight, life is not for those who wnat to watch it pass by, it is for those who want to take part in it.
I am sorry if our generation misses the revolutionary wars, our deaths won’t be triggered by honor, it is our responsability to recreate a world where we recieve freedoms but forget obligations. Let’s do it one step at a time: let’s not stay quiet, let’s not be the passive accomplice, and little by little start to rebuild a place where we want to participate and innovate.
Cheers,
Gorka