Myself and co-worker/friend Eyeder are eating lunch at a restaurant. There is a television turned to CNN...
Me: Damn, that coal mine disaster is a trip, ain't it?
Eyder: I guess. I don't get it.
Me: Don't get what?
Eyder: Why it's such a big deal.
Me: You don't think all those people dying is a big deal?
Eyder: Not really.
Me: What? All those people died.
Eyder: Yeah, I know. That's sad. For them. But I don't really care. How does it effect me?
Me: Well, directly, I guess not. But it's a major human drama. These are working class people.
Eyder: So? What does that have to do with me?
Me: Nothing directly, I guess. But, shit, don't you think it's sad that all those people died?
Eyder: But people die every day.
Me: The FUCK you talking about?
Eyder: I'm just saying, yeah, it's sad, but what does it have to do with me? I don't really care.
Me: You sound like another friend who didn't think the Space Shuttle crashing was a big deal.
Eyder: Oh THAT was a big deal.
Me: And this isn't?
Eyder: No.
Me: I guess we're going to have to agree to disagree.
Eyder: I'm just tired of all the coverage of it.
Me: Oookaaay, what dat got to do with it?
Eyder: It didn't happen near Houston, so, why is this a national story?
Me: Uh, because so many people died at once? It's a human story.
Eyder: So?
Me: Never mind.
I mean, damn, everybody obviously got the right to their own shit, their own way of seeing things, but I just don't see how someone could look at things like the mine tragedy and not be moved. It's like looking at Katrina and the aftermath and not giving a damn. I actually know someone who didn't think that the space shuttle crash from a few years ago was a big deal.
Like I said, to each his own, but, shit, what happened to the gentleness and thoughtfullness that was supposed to return after 911? Is it just me, or are we becoming a nation of cold-hearted mofos?
3 comments:
i was just taught in one of my classes that people want to know how something effects them ... so i can understand both sides.
the person you were talking to did not feel effected by the situation, does not make them a bad person. their point of reference is just different, ya know?
As promised, new blog name, new look and even new profile pic … check it out: http://thisismemadosi.blogspot.com/
oh i definitely knew that sweetness of 9/11 wouldn't last. cold-hearted people have always been around. they will probably never leave.
covering this was hard. i wanted to watch all those tvs at work instead of writing for our audience. but somebody had to do it. nearly everyday i hear something like that ignorance on someone's misery. i choose not to react unless they try to pass their ignorance on to the air. then i have to draw the line.
I mean, I wasn't trying to call out Eyder. He's a good guy. Just a little young, I think. I was mainly joking with him.
And, I can understand that people have different reactions to things, based on their frame of reference.
BUT, I still don't see how someone can look at the mine accident and be like, "so?".
But that's just me. I'm not judging anybody. Just trying to figure people out.
Post a Comment