Humble pie

I often get thanked for my "funny and witty writing" that makes "people laugh even at the most heart-breaking of moments". Well, I'm glad to be of service. Though...sometimes I do wonder if I make stupid choices simply to have something to write about.

I do realize that writing a blog is potentially a very self-absorbed enterprise. It's all about "me, me, me, listen to the poor old me" and I do acknowledge that (occasionally) I might come across as a truly self-indulgent bitch. And yes, occasionally I am. (Crikey. Am I now going to have to wear sticker with my name on it, sit in a circle and be greeted by a group of total strangers offering me stale coffee and dried-up donuts?)

Luckily, as far as cunning restauranteurs go, Adrian Ferra's got nothing on God. Just as one is about to over-indulge on the self-indulgence, (S)he surprises you with a generous slice of humble pie. As was the case the other night.

I know how I've been raving about the North Korea, that elusive pearl of the East. I've seen them cheer their athletes with synchronized clapping with the kind of precision that gives Germans a run for their money. I've observed them grieve the loss of their beloved, heaven-sent leader with the kind of emotional voraciousness even the best of Bollywood films fail to reproduce. I've watched the North Korean football team take on the Brazilians with such unprecedented hunger that for a moment it looked like history was about to be made.

Beneath all this sarcasm,of course,lurks a very nasty reality. Those people clap with nanosecond-precision because if they failed to impress, they'd probably be shot. They produce those emotional outbursts not out of genuine, heart-breaking loss but out of fear. If they're not deemed credible enough, they'd be sent to a prison camp. And that North Korean team... The thing that was driving them was probably just that: hunger. Literally. As in will scout rubbish bins and will eat your  pet-sort of way. 

North Korea is far bigger mystery that The Man's murky psyche. And a far more sinister one too, seeing they have something he doesn't. No, not the proven ability to a life-long commitment, but The Bomb. And as a result they get away with the most heinous human rights violations imaginable. They don't even have oil, which makes it very undesirable target for the humanitarian interveners.

The other night I met the only man who's ever managed to escape from one of North Korea's notorious labour camps. North Korea vehemently denies their existence. Google Earth on the other hand has satellite pictures out there for the whole world to see. Born into a life of slavery, torture and systematic abuse he survived and mustered the courage to escape. Now he's slowly rebuilding his life and humanity in a world the existence of which he had no idea until 7 years ago. How a person finds the kind of inner strength needed for overcoming that kind of circumstances is beyond me. 

Then, later that night I watched Flight 93, where one of the planes hijacked by the 9/11 terrorists is taken over by the passengers and staff on that plane- risking their own lives but saving the lives of countless others. The bravery of those individuals is every bit as unfathomable.

Yes, we can bicker and back-stab and bad-mouth. We're good at scheming, screwing over and selling out. But we people have the capacity to do so much good. We have powers that we could afford to put to use in a much more constructive and productive way. 

So, how about we do just that. How about we all stand up and say: NO MORE.