December 29, 2004
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While writing at work is not a habit I want to start in on, my boss is out on vacation, and I’ve run out of ways to appear productive for the day. That’s not to say I’m trying particularly hard. I had a painful, cancer-ridden mole lanced off of my body yesterday, and it was in quite an unsavory location. Now, I am sore, crabby, and feeling ambushed by the effects of sleep-deprivation, emotional exhaustion, and drinking acquired over the holidays. I curse the hourly-pay rate system, as it is the only thing that is keeping me in my cubicle today.
Anyhow, that little hissy fit wasn’t what I had planned for your reading enjoyment. Rather, it is the phone conversation that my co-worker is having with her office door open. She is trying desperately to get her friend to cancel her honeymoon vacation to Thailand, coming up this week. After the horrific devastation that has ravaged that area, I find it appalling that anyone could be so out of touch with reality that they couldn’t imagine what landing in the midst of such horror would be like. What kind of a spoiled brat do you have to be to think that you will still be catered to on a Thai beach vacation when the resort you have reserved a room at is now reduced to a pile of sticks and dead bodies litter the sandy white beaches you planned to be sunbathing on? My coworker tried to convince her, “There will be disease! During my China trip I saw farm animals floating in the Yangtze. Those freaked me out, and they were only animals! Call the airlines! Change your plans!”
Anyhow, overhearing the piggish attitudes of my co-workers friend provoked me to donate to the Unicef relief fund that is being set up for the affected Indian Ocean areas. I felt badly listening to the NPR reports this morning, but nothing motivates me to take action like the attitudes of ignorant Americans. I hope you will all log on to www.unicef.org and help if you can.
Comments (3)
I hope you will not have any more problems with the cancer.
The co-worker’s friend is obviously living on another planet. One where she is self-absorbed, narcissistic, and entitled. It’s really sickening.
Our media has shown some “pop culture” (i.e. Starbucks) and some real humanity. I am awestruck at the devastation as the death toll rises. Is this one of those things that just happens every now and then?… is Mother Nature mad at us for not taking better care of the planet?… or is my mother correct that the end of the world is near?
i say… let her go… she’ll come back changed for life by what she sees… nothing changes you like having the smell of dead bodies in nose during your honeymoon… maybe it’ll jeak her back into reality….
Hey. I had a few cancerous moles removed. It’s a bummer, huh? I actually have a friend who lives in Indonesia who told me she went on a vacation to Bali the day after the tsunami. I couldn’t believe it. She said that now that she’s back, though, she will volunteer with the relief efforts.Another good site is http://www.oxfamamerica.org. I have to say that I spent a good portion of my thesis arguing against that particular organization, but in my research found that it is truly a well-intentioned organization, if I do happen to disagree its opinions about reforming the IMF and WTO as the best way for underdeveloped countries to gain a more stable grasp of the global economy (to hell with the IMF and WTO–the are institutions that are inherently unjust and based on debunct theories of development).Holy moly, I’m rambling.