I saw Nicholas Kristof today. To be more accurate, I attended a panel talk in which he gave a presentation on “Modern Day Slavery” and the oppression of women in many developing countries around the world today.
I didn’t expect him to be so eloquent (but I guess writers usually are…) or so witty (which could have gone either way in a serious event such as this). Most of all, I think I didn’t expect my own reactions to what I was hearing. For most of the presentation, I felt a numbness in my limbs from the utter shock of the facts that were presented. I felt a cold paralysis, because of the seeming hopelessness of the situation. I also felt relief, for being so fortunate as to win some sort of birth lottery. I could have easily taken the place of any of the girls who were trapped in a cyclical world of oppression and abuse.
When it comes to charity, I’m not one to be quickly convinced. Sometimes, as powerful as I can feel as a priviledged Ivy-League student in the so-called first world, it’s easy to brush off the problems of the world as too large to tackle. It’s also easy to forget about what’s not immediately in front of me, that is, an Econometrics problem set.
It’s not often that my life is turned upside-down like this. Lately, it’s been happening more often. I think that’s a good thing; I like reinventing the person I am… the person I’d like to become.
