connecting to each other

Living life these days seem to exist in two realities--the physical and the virtual [otherwise known as the digital]; and sometimes for me, it is hard to separate the two from each other. It seems as if one cannot be a totally functioning person without living in both, often simultaneously. This thought came across my mind as I sat and reflected back on my day, which started off in the morning with a skype call [virtual world] to Sachi in Bangladesh, then Alice in China, an actual conversation with my parents in the physical world, followed by countless gchats, text messaging, etc... I am amazed at how these different forms of communications keep us connected to each other, even across oceans, mountain ranges, 17 hour plane rides--the geographical, political, and economic boundaries are effortlessly conquered, as us humans attempt to connect with each other. This is both inspiring to me and yet extremely sad. With modern technology giving us the ability to so easily connect to one another, why then are we, as a human race, becoming further divided? Perhaps the theologian Paulo Richard says it best:

"We are aware that another gigantic wall is being constructed in the Third World, to hide the reality of the poor majorities. A wall between the rich and poor is being built, so that poverty does not annoy the powerful and the poor are obliged to die in the silence of history."

It is apparent that the wall only exists between the poor and rich, but also, across socio-economic, race, class, gender, etc...to suggests that those who do not belong within the current hegemonic structure are also "obliged to die in the silence of history." However, that is not say that the glimmers of hope do not exists. Also this morning, in between conversing with friends in different parts of the world, I came across the New York Times article regarding the earthquake in China and the massive outpour from the Chinese public to help their fellow countrymen and women. The article suggests that it has taken an earthquake to this magnitude [no pun intended] for the urban elite in China to realize the conditions that their rural counterparts are living in, and perhaps more importantly, to open their eyes to that the raw human suffering their rural counterparts are experiencing are the same emotions that exists within themselves, and that these ruralites are not that different from the urbanites.

Now extrapolate the thoughts discussed above into the bigger global picture-from the natural disasters of the Asian Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, to the recent ones of Cyclone Nagris hitting Burma, the earthquake in China, to the various conflicts going on in the world [genocide in Sudan, conflict in the Congo, war in Iraq...], not to mention the various medical aliments, preventable deaths (one being maternal mortality which my friend Drew is presently researching on in Ghana...a link to her blog)...we see, read about, learn about the raw human suffering that goes on; the struggle to survive; the stories of hope and hopelessness. But I think what happens is that for the majority of us, including myself, tend to dichotomize it...between us versus them. And it is not until we are put into that similar circumstances when us becomes them, or at least in close enough proximity to them that it becomes somewhat personal to us, and a sense of urgency to take action is invoked.

I believe that invoking action through human compassion is at the CORE of humanitarian development, and is the guiding force in answering the ageless questions of "what is development" and "how do we best develop/help others?" These are questions that cause me to wake up each day to continually seek the answers. That is what this blog is about--my search for these answers, but perhaps more importantly, the journey, experiences, interactions with others and processes which I attempt to come up with answers. I invite you to come along, post comments, contact me and join in on the journey.