We all believe fake stories. We read books and we create an image of a world that becomes our reality. We watch movies and become part of a new world. The characters' emotions become our emotions and ours theirs. We completely understand the situation that they are experiencing and it's only when we have to close the book or pause the film that we remind ourselves that what we were witnessing was not real. It's a kind of empathy that is difficult to get anywhere else; most of us struggle to get it in real life. We hear stories, but because we didn't witness it we fail to enter and therefore understand someone else's world. It sounds so distant that we have to remind ourselves that this is not the fake story.
I recently had a conversation with someone I used to work with. She's been through a lot. When I say a lot, I mean she's gone through things that I can't and frankly would never want to truly understand. She's also achieved a lot and I'm seriously proud of her. She fully recognises what she's been through and acknowledges it as what makes her her. It amazes and inspires me: people have treated her in ways that makes me question humanity, yet what makes her happiest in life is helping people and she travels the world hoping to understand people and create memories with them.
When I first thought of travelling, it was just for experiencing the world, seeing beautiful places and creating memories with mates. I'm still going to do that and I'm excited for it, but now I think it's a bit more than that. I love politics and I think that it links massively to me trying to understand the world. By studying politics and travelling, I can temporarily experience other people's stories, try to understand them and hopefully help them.
Right now I can't understand the world. Too many people seem to be consumed by fear, anger and hatred, I can't see why people choose to live life in such draining way. There's such a lack of empathy towards others and the struggles that they face. When ISIS murder Muslims, when refugees are refused help and die as a result, when governments drop bombs in the Middle East, when a mosque in Texas gets burned down, when 9 black people are killed in church by a white supremacist, when people die of starvation and drought, when so much goes wrong in the world, it's not a fake story. It's real life.
People, just like you and me, are experiencing these things and often have no control over the events that shape their lives. Just imagine if something along the same lines happened to you or family. Even if, like with me and my friend, you can't fully understand what's happening to them, it's your duty as a human being to do something about it. It might be tough and it might come with sacrifices for yourself, but you have to do it. I hate that helping people is seen as an amazing thing; helping people should just be seen as the human thing and expected from us all. Take risks for the sake of others because the risks to yourself will typically be outweighed by the benefits to them. You can't leave someone in eternal pain and fear of death just for the sake of being a little bit more comfortable.
I really believe that I have a right to enjoy my life. Having said that, I also believe that I have a responsibility to make sure that others can enjoy their lives just as much. That means they could be LGBTQ, heterosexual, black, white, asian, South American, indigenous, able, disabled, male, female, young, old, rich, poor, educated, uneducated, religious, atheist or anything else - I will help them and I will be damned if I'm going to be a reason for their lives being any harder.
After all, whatever label you decide to put on someone, they will always be human.
"To know that one life has breathed easier because you lived here. This is to have succeeded." - Ralph Waldo Emerson