We’ve all seen airstrikes in Pakistan.

Poverty in Africa.

Nuclear blackmail from North Korea.

But all of these things seem so far away like a whisper in the wind. Like we will never have anything to do with all this commotion happening around the world. Bombings could be the least of our worries, but in Syria, bombings happen on a day to day basis. We hear about horrible things all the time, feeling empathy for those people that have been wronged but forget everything in about 2-3 hours.

Can’t worry about airstrikes while I’m watching T.V.

Can’t worry about Poverty when I’m finishing my lunch

Can’t worry about Nuclear blackmail when I’m by the pool.

You see, we are part of the “first world” and it seems that to the common man, going to work or school might already be too much to handle. However, there are people who need help and have it a lot worse than we do.

We, the people of the United States, have grown insensitive to the world around us, like all of us live in some sort of a hologram.

A lot of people think that they have nothing to worry about with all this stuff happening around them, and some just don’t care. How could the airstrikes in Pakistan possibly affect my life? It can. Toward the beginning of last november, an airstrike killed a Taliban leader lodged in the heart of Pakistan. You might think that this is a good thing, taking a man that has killed hundreds of innocent people off the face of the earth. But his death brought an incredible amount of riots, protests, and violence throughout Pakistan. Pakistan slammed the United States with a lot of hate, because the United States had just ambushed all their efforts in creating a sense of peace with the Taliban. The Taliban have been harassing the civilians of Pakistan for weeks and the Pakistani government was just about to put a stop to this. But, the U.S interfered, making situations a lot more complicated. Right now, the people in Islamabad are currently burning our flags and yelling throughout the streets. Do you see how this creates a problem?

Maybe in the current situation this won’t affect the way we live, but in the long run, this could just come back and bite us.

The things around us affect the way we live, how we live, and what kind of environment we live in. Not caring a single bit about what’s around us is stupid and short minded.

I bet that before you started reading this article at least 50% of you wouldn’t have known that a Taliban leader had been killed, one or two months ago. It’s such a big topic right? How come you haven't heard about it?
I’ll tell you why. This didn’t show up as headlines at any of the major news broadcasters.
The media shows only what they think the Public wants to see.
And that isn’t scary ideas.

According to the Pew research center, in 2007 only 66% of the people in the United states knew the name of their own state governor. On the contrary, 9 out of 10 americans knew exactly the name of the former movie star, Arnold Schwarzenegger. The statistics are staggering, but if you think about it, it isn’t at all surprising. Celebrities get more attention than events that could possibly alter your life.

I surveyed a group of thirty 8th grade students, asking each of them if they’ve heard about the death of Paul Walker (Brian O’Connor from “Fast and Furious”). Not surprisingly about twenty three out of thirty of those total students did. Then I asked each of them “Do you know about the death of Hakimullah Mehsud?”. Twenty eight people stared at me clueless.
Hakimullah Mehsud was that Taliban leader I was talking about before.
Hakimullah Mehsud killed hundreds.
Hakimullah Mehsud was a much bigger problem.
However, only a handful of people actually knew who he was, what he did, and how many he has killed. Yet, still america weeps for the death of one man, a star in their favorite movie.

I spoke with my Social Studies teacher about why this is and he came up with a pretty good answer.

America doesn’t want to see the bad things around them, America doesn’t want to see the deaths of hundreds, America doesn’t want to see the people asking for help.

So they douse themselves in entertainment and act like it never happened.

This is not good.

This is shameful.

This is disgraceful.

The United States has created a high demand for entertainment. People with their eyes glued to the T.V screen. Doesn’t this seem familiar? In Roman times, Juvenal, a poet, criticized the Romans for their obsession with food and entertainment. He wrote in one of his books that anyone could come to power if they gave the citizens of Rome two things: bread and circuses. You can guess that it went downhill from there. Don’t let this continue with America.

Think about the child starving, intestines swelling because not a single piece of grain has gone into his mouth for more than a week. Think about the little girl who works at a factory because all of her brothers died at war. Think about convoys of military trucks devastating families while they continue their campaign. “Is this real? No I don’t choose to believe it.” Well you don’t have to. You don’t have to do anything. You can just continue on with your life, protected by the wing of entertainment and the Media. But, you don’t know how much a rotten apple means to a starving kid. You’ve never felt the feeling of hard child labor or the feeling of being the last of your family and friends in an entire village. No, America mustn't know about these things. America is scared to know about these things.

It’s always your choice. It’s your choice to listen to the things I have to say and the cries of other people. It’s your choice to ignore those cries and keep living, oblivious to the world. There is a world outside your window. You can step out this hologram. Step out of not knowing anything of the world outside.

No, you don’t have to listen to anything I say, but consider this.

What if it was you instead of them.