A mind's impact on global issues
Information pours down onto our heads like rain during a storm.
Constantly.
An endless stream of news flows into our minds, yet we tend to ignore or put off global issues.
Why?
While many activists and people care about the deep-rooted problems that spread like wildfires across the Earth, most people turn a blind eye to what affects millions of people.
Why?
The human mind. The human mind is not good at empathizing with millions and billions of lives.
Think about it, how can it be that an individual setting up a donation page will reach more people than an organization helping paramedics who work for free in war zones? Our minds can build up more empathy with a singular person and their story than with a larger amount of people and their backgrounds.
It is not to be said that one of those sides should be preferred in the sense of attention but it is something I have spent a fair amount of time looking up because I was wondering why so few people care about global problems. And it is not essentially that many of us do not care but simply struggle to comprehend the enormous amount of actual lives. Furthermore, one feels more significant when e.g. donating money to an individual than to a huge organization. Which could not lie further away from the truth. But our minds believe that, and act on this feeling.
[…] fight against this false inefficacy feeling. Even partial solutions can save whole lives.
Paul Slovic
Thus, I want to remind everyone especially when reading or watching the news, to please remember that these are not numbers but people and that your help is never, never useless. Your attention to a certain topic matters, your voice matters, your actions matter.
This is to encourage you to act on the problems going on globally. Talk about them with your family, even if it might spark uncomfortable discussions but it is worth it. Spread awareness and share your knowledge. There is no reason for you to feel like you have no power, you do! If you are not capable of donating money, speak up, inform yourself, fact-check your resources. You have an impact!
There is no reason for you to downplay or ignore your impact on global issues. You do have control of the future, act on it.
Thank you for reading and caring, I wish you the best