Rage against apathy

Lying in bed last night I had a lot of time to think. Mostly because I was free camping in north Münich, a few km's from where the gunman had just ripped dozens of lives apart. I'm not kidding when I say I went to bed with my wood chopping axe in hand. 

I had a lot of time to think about where our world is headed, and why the human race seems intent on tearing itself to pieces with acts of violence and bids for domination all wrapped in a cloak of fear, distrust and hatred.  What I also had a lot of time to think about was how huge an impact a singe person can have. And how important it is to remember that a single person doing good can have as big an impact as one doing bad.

Quickly in your mind think back over the last two weeks and list the attacks that you can recall. I actually went to Wikipedia to get details and I was so shocked by the size of the numbers of both death and injury that I had to go over my mental calculations with a calculator as I thought I couldn't possibly be right. 

I was:

This July 1324 people have been killed by an act of terror (see wiki for definition) and 1722 people have been injured. IN JULY. It's not even August yet. Along with those stats, there are 17 'unknown' numbers of people hurt or killed. Of those people mentioned, the majority were in the Asian and African continents but ten were in Europe and three in the USA.

What is going on in this world?!?!?

I am shocked, astounded actually, that in one month, purely through hate, we can exterminate and maim over 3000 people.  Poverty, poor sanitation, illness.. these are tragic states and responsible for preventable deaths. But so too are these terror attacks preventable. 

I am angry. I am angry at our general apathy. I am angry that people (in general.. I know this is not universal, and I applaud with sincerity those working quietly for humanity) don't get interested or care or act until the tragedy directly threatens their livelihood, lifestyle or life.  So I can't sit by again, hurting again, at a senseless act of violence. I want everyone who reads this to feel something, I want to plant a seed of change in all our lives to want to do more. To want to give our time and our empathy and ourselves to the better and bigger good of humanity. 

I don't really know what I hope to achieve with this post other than I want to remind people of their ability to impact others. I want these 1324 deaths and 1722 injuries to mean something. I want them to spur us all into action. To open our eyes and our hearts to the Unknown and experience something truly magical.