know whats going on

i may be somewhat of a hypocrite writing about this since i didn't even know we are suppose to go vote today (but i'm going to go in a little bit!)...

in class today we watched 2 TEDTalks podcasts. both were photographers speaking. Phil Borges and James Nachtwey. they are photographers who travel and take pictures of what is going on in other countries. they take pictures of war, poverty, pain and suffering. both are incredible photographers who really capture what these people are going through. some of the images were extremely graphic, which is what brought me to write about this. as we were watching these podcasts and photographs were appearing on the screen, i was looking around the room and watching peoples reactions. a picture of a man who was on the verge of starvation, who was literally nothing but skin and bones, came up and many people in the class looked away. a picture of a little boy suffering from AIDS in africa came up, and again many people looked away. a picture of a man who had been imprisoned with scars all over his body came up, and many people looked away. the teacher never warned us that we would see these types of images, and many people afterward looked as though they wanted to complain. but he shouldn't have to warn us. i think everyone needs to see these things. people need to know what is going on in other countries, to know how lucky we are to live the way we live, to know that there are much bigger problems in the world than many of the things we go through. while we sit at home on our computers or playing video games or watching tv or complaining about the opposite sex or stressing about homework, people are out there dying of incurable and curable diseases but can't afford medicine. grandparents are parenting grandchildren. people are being tortured by war and their governments.
i encourage you all to educate yourselves further on what is going on in other parts of the world. realize how lucky you are to be born into this world instead of theirs.