I'll preface this by saying that I'm grateful. Grateful for the life that I have lived, my family, my friends, the opportunities that I've had and will (hopefully) continue to have.
Hopefully, if you are reading this you've heard about George Zimmerman being found not guilty of a multitude of charges stemming from the February 26th killing of 17-year old Trayvon Martin (and if you have not, or are not up-to-date on the details there are a multitude of sites that contain more information, please read up on it). My thoughts echo a lot of those being sent through social media, and my thoughts go out to the Martin family.
The handling of this trial along with all of the news of the past couple months has only made me firmer in my belief that there is something fundamentally wrong with the American justice, political and media systems. If the news of PRISM, of the Moral Monday riots in NC, the anti-abortion bills throughout the country, and the media handling of all of this (don't even get me started on the false, racist names that were broadcasted on national television after the Asiana flight accident) hasn't made you question our systems of government and beyond-I'm not sure that you are living in the same world that I am.
The lack of transparency and communication is alarming to me and it scares me beyond belief-so what do I, do we do next?
I'm not sure, and there are much better and smarter people who may have some of these answers. I hope that they begin to speak up.
Because that is what I plan to do.
It can be so easy to hide, to hold your tongue, and I've done that. When I first heard about PRISM I was angry but more strongly, I was scared. I immediately dove into movies, television, books, any where I could live somewhere else and some other time. However, each film, each episode, each book only gave me more thoughts on what is exactly wrong and what could be done, every piece of media gave me another perspective, another view, and more importantly, hope.
It is now that I realize this is why I want to work in media. To make a difference, to make things more transparent, so that we can communicate better. Media that will help us understand perspectives and ideas, give us hope or slap us to attention, inform us towards action, teach us so we can to the best of our ability-this is what I strive for.
I hope today's decision, as well as everything that has happened so far, can help you find something you can do to make this world a little less awful.
Learn more, listen more, see more, do more.