Growly Bear, VMA, and Society in General

We have been getting things ready to do a tag sale and found this backpack that was given to Levi when he was born. He LOVES it. He walks around the apartment waving bye to us and then going into the bathroom, his room, or our room. The beret was knitted for him when he was just a baby, and he wanted to wear that too. He has that look of shear joy on his face just about every moment of the day. I love that kid!

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This was the most offensive thing I saw while watching the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night. Ludacris performed his song Pimpin' All Over the World which is supposed to be talking about...well click the link and read the lyrics for yourself. Anyway, the fact that he had the audacity to wear a diamond encrusted necklace in the shape of Africa is absolutely...I don't have the words. I took this picture with my camera off my TV, and it's the thing that stuck in my mind all night.

To be sure there was a whole bunch of other stuff that happened, but this took the cake. The idea that you would wear a piece of jewelry that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to represent that "your down with the mother-land" when people in that land are starving, dying, and as poor as they get is reprehensible. Can you imagine how many orphanages or hospitals could be built with the money it took to buy that piece of bling. I know that there were other stars that were probably more blinged out than Ludacris. But to wear something like that treats the crisis in Africa as a joke, and cheapens the suffering of the people there.

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How sad it is to see little kids walking behind their parents with their arms full of looted items from stores in New Orleans. In the situations these people are facing I think taking food and necessary supplies don't qualify as looting...that's survival. But when people are walking out with TV's, clothes, radio's, etc it's really sad and pathetic. Especially when they bring their kids along as an extra set of hands. It just goes to show that when law and order break down, people can quickly follow. You can see what happens in just 24 hours of lawlessness. Imagine living in lawlessness for a generation or two. That's how places like Rwanda, The Congo, and the Sudan get to be as bad as they are. WE are no different than those human beings, and my guess is that our society isn't as civilized as we think it is. That said, there are also thousands of acts of kindness happening at every moment. We must highlight those things, and shun the negative if we are to inspire those who can help to help.