Constant Gardner...more than just a movie

We took in the 4:20 p.m. showing of Constant Gardner. I kept thinking this was going to be the new Bill Murray movie, though it had been told to me that that movie was only playing at the Paradise theatre. Duh. Anyways, I was told last night that I should look online to find out about the Constant Gardner. I am soooo glad I didn't. I went in seeing the movie with no expectations and came out with a heart filled with awe, a greater desire and fully entertained in a very creative manner.

I could see this being an Oscar or Cannes Film Winner if not favorite. I had to remind myself that this was a UK film, not an American film using British actors. Excellent movie! I wouldn't mind having a copy of this movie for myself.

It is so strange, I used to think it weird that people would make copies or buy copies of a movie they had just seen. I could not figure why one would want to see a movie AGAIN, much less twenty times or more. But then I guess I've finally gotten on the band wagon and have found myself asking for movies that I have enjoyed immensely. Though I'd say I'm probably more selective than most movie buffs. And I can't even call myself a movie buff. We rarely see movies, but when we do, it seems we see some really great ones. Okay, maybe Elf and Meet the Fockers don't count on the 'really good' scale, but they did have entertainment value for me, at least.

The other movie that I wouldn't mind owning is Motorcycle Diaries. Most movies I enjoy have the element of poignant human experiences.

I know there are thousands of movies out there that I have yet to see and can never remember what they are except when i enter a video store, wishing I could take every single one I find. And then bring them home and have a month-long marathon of movies of others' experiences. But that never seems to work out, and then I feel guilty about wasting time in front of a tv, when there is plenty of other things that need to get done.

That's why I don't watch tv during the day time. It just seems like a waste of time. I think I just need to get over this stupid guilt thing.

After Katrina occurred, I kept wondering why tv and radio were playing up-beat things, and not continuously talking about the victims and the horrific situation our countrymen/women/children found themselves in Katrina's aftermath.

But then I realized we are a country and perhaps a world, where when disaster occurs, there is still 'everyday' life that goes on for those who have not been fully affected by whatever disaster took place. It's as if we need something to distract ourselves of the reality of any given situation.

In one way I am appalled by this behavior, but it's apparently typical. But then again, I can understand perhaps the need for diverting our attention on a comedy, a drama a sports game, a thriller, an action-packed picture so that we still realize we are okay, that life apparently does go on, even in the midst of a horrible disaster.

But when I think worldwide, everyday there is some abominable situation that takes place every minute of every day. Raping, a murder, a bombing, poverty, starvation, a drought, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, raiding of villages, prostitution, slavery, onslaught of some form of terror.

And though the U.S. definitely has its share of murder, homicides, rapes, killings, slavery, prostitution, and poverty, it is still difficult for me to not see the graveness of third world countries who know what struggling truly means. Not that people in America don't, and I don't proceed to negate our grave conditions, BUT the difference is that we are an extremely wealthy, thought stupid country who should be taking better care of our people. But power and money have made us just as corrupt as any third world nation, struggling with similar but even more horrific and catastrophic situations on a daily basis.

So to be sitting in front of a theatre screen or the tube, it's not far away from me the images, of across the world, and even in my own back yard, the struggles of humanity. How very sad it is and I have to work at not letting it get to me. It's difficult though.

So, as I mentioned, I see the need for an entertainment value in our lives so that we can be reminded that we are okay. History shows during wars, during Hiroshima, during the Holocaust, during the San Francisco fires, during the Loma Prieta earthquake, during 9/11, during the Tsunami and more recently during hurricane Katrina, we needed some form of entertainment value to get us through it all. BUT it sucks to know that I am okay, when a child in Sao Paulo, in Vietnam, in India, in Iran, in Africa are just one breath away from their own deaths. But it is the reality of things and I am only one person who is striving to put my passions in to action, by getting involved.

What are you doing to get involved in the fate of our humanity, at home or across the world?

Don't just sit there. Don't be complacent, and don't be socially unaware or without action.

www.one.org
www.data.org
www.amnesty.org
www.care.org
www.un.org
www.who.int/en
www.mercycorps.org
www.oxfam.org
www.savethechildren.org
www.usaid.gov
www.doctorswithoutborders.org
www.idealist.org
www.globalexchange.org
www.heiferinternational.org
www.undp.org
www.nelsonmandela.org
www.46664.tiscali.com
www.globalaidsalliance.org
www.unaids.org
www.worldbank.org/poverty
www.pactworld.org
www.redcross.org
www.salvationarmy.org
www.globalvolunteer.org

Will It Never End?

Posted by: kimthanh

This image is so powerful and yet the reality of HIV/AIDS.

How many years will it take for it to finally just be another part of history, and there to be no more suffering and deaths of children, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles?

Oh I wish I knew...

But I know I can't just sit idly by and let it happen without some form of action from myself.

I don't want to look back on my life and see that there were things that I could have done to help alleviate pain and suffering of others, but I felt just too much guilt and too much responsibility that it immobilized me to take any form of action.

I wish never to be thought of that way. Nor go to my death under the notion that I could have tried to do something, though it may not have saved the world, but if I could have held the life of one dying, comforted the parent of the child dying or cared for the children whose parent is dying or even fed a cup of water to a thirsty and dehydrated person, that would suffice for me the only need of existence of my life. I would have to be kidding myself if I said that I wished I had done more to 'save' a whole nation, an entire village, a group of children, but as I live my life today, I only need to know that I more than striving to do something, I am literally getting my hands dirty in some tangible way that is one on one with another in need.

Let not this image continue to be the future representation of these nations in need. Let there be restoration in these lives so that the future of these countries can and will prosper with integrity.

The Reality...

Posted by: kimthanh

This is what AIDS has done to this child, and like so many in Africa it is invading at an extraordinary rate that there will so many more who die because we (me, you, us, them) could not save them in time.

Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles all affected in ways that is punishable only by death. Particularly for those in rural areas of Africa, where water, food, electricity and trained, medical personnel and ARV's are all but available to these most unfortunate people.

AIDS is slowly gaining success in the larger regions of Africa and that is wonderful news, but it will be years before it can reach truly all that are in need of the drugs to help delay the speed of which one dies and perhaps remain alive if treated early on, the food that is necessary to take along with the much needed medication.

If we look back at the America's history when HIV/AIDS first came on the scene of our society, we were much in denial, it was considered a plague to most, it was the 'others' issue, it was a gay person's issue, it then became a matter on the American conscience. Then money and support came at a very rapid rate, once it was better understood. But we've had an immense advantage over those countries who are and have been struggling with HIV/AIDS for many years already. In many of these countries, much of the spread of HIV/AIDS has affected much of the rural areas, where medical and food and supplies are difficult to attain due to conditions of poverty and resources. In America, the land of milk and honey, as Mrs. Malunga stated in a letter to our two friends, D and C, that we have had a wealth of resources to find ways to fight this horrible disease. Unlike much of the rest of the world.

So, it is not fair to say that Africans, East indians, Spaniards, Haitians deserve what they got, HIV/AIDS. Because if that is what it is all about, America also truly got what it deserved, but to say that is like omitting the rest of the world. Because as humanity, we have all made some horrible decisions that have caused a world-wide epidemic and continue to make decisions that cost lives, not only our own. But unlike America, the other nations have little or no resources to receive and deal with the crisis at hand. So, why aren't more Americans concerned and doing mored to help these nations in this pandemic? I believe we are afraid. We are more concerned with our own lives, and also believe that many Americans feel that these other nations need to take care of their own. But then you ask the question of HOW? How are they to do that? Why can't America and the other wealthy nations help also? Go beyond the initial giving of our dollars? Why not lend our expertise, our connections with pharmaceutical companies, our status, our power?

The G8 was a great starter, but I think it seems like it maybe running out of steam. Perhaps it's not so much the people, as it is the enormity of the task ahead currently and the future. But I think it also has to do with the political games that end up being played for some damn reason or another. Why can't it be more simpler than we make it out to be?
Getting help that is and putting the money where it was stated it would be designated? What is so difficult about it? Is there really that much corruption within the wealthy nations that we are all unable to do the right thing and proportion the money where it need go? And the legal system be led without a hitch? Is it truly that impossible? I just don't understand. Perhaps I am naive. It wouldn't be the first time, nor the last. But more than anything, I think I am just too idealistic for the matters of the world. Me and thousands of others, I'm sure.

I am doing what I can, by getting truly involved in the cause of Africa, but hope not to end there most certainly, but include Vietnam, India, Haiti, Brazil, etc. It just can't stop with the last destination, because there will always be others in need of something. And as long as I have breath and passion for others, I want so much to be used in these lives in whatever way possible that I can.

I don't want to be simply a donator of my dollars, I want to envelope myself within all of these peoples I have spoken of. Until I take my last breath...