Ignorance is NOT Bliss.

The world is a mess. It really is, we are slowly losing any sense of compassion or hope. People think that if they turn a blind eye to what is going wrong in the world, that they can hide from it and it wont affect them. I like how Sam Hamill viewed writing as an outlet for people to voice their tragedies, as a way for people to get their stories across. We stay away from the ugly truths of the world because we have been raised in society to do so. Reading a great poem or a great novel gives us the oppertunity to, at least in some way, put ourselves in someone else's shoes. All of the poemss in this section were based on something sad, something tragic. We all need a good dose of sadness to make us a little more proactive. Witnessing the sad can help inspire hope and a sense of change. We are all born into varying circumstances, and if we aren't exposed to way others live, we can remain ignorant and without that sense of compassion. Sometimes we need to absorb whats so sad just to make us appreciate the small things we can do to make it better. My favorite poem from the Poetry of Witness selection was "Immigrants in Our Land". People who make mistakes need our help. If you have been lucky enough to be raised with an open mind, with chances to better yourself, then it is your job to pass on that knowledge. I personally feel as though how inmates spend their time is the biggest waste. We send these people, who most likely have had few choices or oppertunities, to rot away with their own miserable memories, and then we seem confused when they return. Why not take advantage that you have this chance to rehabilitate them? Educate, open their minds. People can change, especially if they have been shown the errors of their ways and a way to fix what mistakes they have made. If we ignore those who suffer, we are leaving such a significant portion of people behind, we arent bettering anything. We dont have to be the ones beating our wives and children, or the ones making racial slurs. Being indifferent to what is awful in this world is just as bad as contributing to it.

I found the image above on http://www.n8w.com/image/art/ghandi/. :)

And here is small way to help save the world. http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=1