so i was watching ER on Monday night and it brought me to tears. The whole episode was in Africa as Dr Pratt has gone over to help in a small makeshift hospital in Ganfur. He is confronted at one point in the episode with an African mother and her baby. I missed the actual problem with the child, but the jist was that they could not afford the time and resources necessary to save her baby. It was a basic medical condition - could have been due to dehydration/starvation. The doctors therefore had a nurse translate to the mother that they were sorry, they could do no more for her child. From there she simply had to wait and watch her child die.
I know that it was ER. This is a show for our entertainment. What got me though, what moved me to tears was the reality of the situation. That every day, every hour, mothers (and fathers) in Africa (and other parts of the world) must watch their children fade away in front of them for no good reason.
It made me angry. It made me intensely sad, It made me want to fly to Africa and be with those mothers. To bring them help, to bring them food, water and medicine. To save their babies and to spare them the pain of their loss.
How does compassion a million miles away outwork itself?
thoughts?
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