Kurt Cobain, O.J. Simpson, and my Wake-up Call

The other night I had a chance to watch “Skin” –a documentary about apartheid in South Africa.  The narrative begins in the ‘60s.  While watching, I had assumed the film’s events all took place several decades ago.

But in the closing credits, I was reminded that this story of racial segregation through apartheid continued until 1994, when I was in college.  I was shocked as I thought back to how ignorant I was to this appalling practice.

Alarm dark1

I was an international business major and considered myself to be fairly educated on world events in college.  But the things that stand out to me during that period are:

  • Kurt Cobain’s death
  • O.J. Simpson and the glove
  • Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan
  • Leonardo and Kate on the “Titanic”

But looking back, I had little knowledge and concern for much more significant events, including:

– The reality of apartheid, state-sanctioned segregation, in South Africa.

The economic depression in post-Soviet countries—a crisis now considered twice as bad as our Great Depression.  (Many of their countries’ GDPs fell by 40 percent, according to the World Bank.)

The horrors of the Rwandan genocide—where over 800,000 people were murdered.

These are world-changing events.  I am shocked and embarrassed about my ignorance and inaction, and I hope to never be that way again.  As a father, I want to teach my kids to always have their eyes and hearts wide open.

I believe that the current generation of students are far more engaged, informed, and interested globally than ever before. I see this progress and celebrate that we are finally getting our eyes off of us for just a moment to see and hopefully respond to some of the world’s greatest needs.

What are the issues we ignore that we need to awaken to today?

 

1 Comment

  1. brian
    February 21, 2012

    I think the plight of orphans is a huge crisis around the world, especially in Africa because of AIDS. One other issue that comes to mind is sexual slavery and trafficking, it truly is a worldwide tragedy that doesn’t get nearly the amount of attention it should.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to top