Thursday, January 18, 2007
err. as Justin may attest to, i'm in a kind of obsessive mood right now. haha. especially after since i watched Blood Diamond yesterday. gosh, conflict-free!
my attraction to the newly-rugged looks of Leo diCaprio aside, i actually enjoyed the movie. so, okay, i squinted my eyes at the bloody parts and pretended i didn't see all that blood splattering, but the message behind the show was for a good cause.
i SO am not going to buy diamonds! even if i get married, it'll be a sapphire or emerald or ruby or whatever. if some girls have to buy diamonds (diamonds, contrary to popular belief, need NOT be a girls' best friend), then insist on CONFLICT-FREE ones. throw a hissy fit at the damn jeweller, do whatever you want, but just be adamant that you get conflict-free ones. understood?
you know, the entire show struck a chord with me because, as so aptly pointed out in the movie, we non-Africans don't actually know what's going there in that continent. yes, we read articles daily, "oh, one of the African countries have gone into civil war again, how sad!", we see those pictures of devastation on tv and perhaps we may just write a check of $150 to the people there. but are we really helping? are we really addressing the root of the problem? i say nay.
and if that doesn't make you feel guilty, then i don't know what will.
i watched the show and i think, ironically, that this is perhaps the first movie i've seen where i think it's less exaggerated compared to reality. just thinking about the people and what they've been through, i feel helpless to do anything but watch as they die by the hundreds of thousands every year. and what makes it worse is that i guess i just really am one of those people who perhaps lament abouot everything but don't really do anything.
HAH. i stand accused, guilty as charged.
and there's nothing i can really do about it.
sigh.
what a morose day.
check out this article by the way: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070117/ap_on_sc/congo_gorillas_killed
aside from the dig about gorillas, you really should read it. and perhaps read the park warden's blog too. it's not sensational or whatever in current media terms i guess, but just imagine what it would be like to be afraid to walk in your country in broad daylight, for fear of not only getting shot, but beaten up by the rebels. oh no, let me revise that, imagine what it would be like to firstly have rebels in your country.
gosh, i'd hate to be bubble-wrapped and safely cocooned in a life like this. then again, who wants rebels?
exclusively written @
10:19 AM 
