DO SOMETHING

Conventional wisdom. Logic. Reasoning. Cool words but what do they mean really?

A call to action. Pragmatism. Realism. Idealism. Humanism. Andawholebunchaisms.

How would you describe the millennial man?

We live in a world where social media rules and information is easily accessible. A world where when Justin Bieber farts at JFK airport it makes headlines in The Sun or any other major tabloid. A world where an elevator fight between in-laws gets a week’s coverage complete with opinion and dissection from “physical or body language experts” and professors of psychology or some random title created specifically for events such as those. A world where kids playing on the beach are blown into pieces by land grabbers that have the full backing of the US and the UN and only the aggressors’ side of the story is told. A world where one footballer gets a back injury and gets a lot of media attention from it while the other footballer who pays for surgical operations for kids in that country gets a few lines on the gossip pages of BBC Sport.

People debate breasts or lack thereof in groups on social networking instant messaging apps like WhatsApp. People take videos of side chicks being battered or people brutally assaulting each other just so they can post it on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Vine, Vimeo or any other “appropriate” social site just to get more likes, retweets or views. We hashtag trends like #BringBackOurGirls or #FreePalestine while we sit and sip tea in the comfort of our homes because like Kermit, it’s “none of our business”. Because honestly most of us are doing it to fit in.

We post nudes for likes. We make sex tapes for infamy. We insult each other for attention. We ignore our families and embrace total strangers. We talk more and listen less. We talk more and do less. We bully people to suicide online. We are quick to judge but slow to correct. We laugh at people’s flaws and mistakes and forget we are not perfect. We interact more but care less.

Truth is we are slowly becoming inhumane. We are slowly becoming slaves to our own creations. We have taken our hearts and put them in Omarion’s icebox. We have forsaken the importance of genuinely talking to people and embraced the art of short characterization or use of abbreviated words to communicate. When we call someone, we hardly find out how they are but go straight into that which we called for in the first place. Heck…people hardly call to find out the welfare of another being.

Umoja is but a forgotten concept. All we are now are selfish beings looking to gain from each and every interaction. Gone are the days when a person would lend you money without charging interest. Gone are the days when we would be excited at the thought of seeing our relatives from the village when they come to visit. We laugh at people’s misfortune and wish death upon those we despise. How can we, without shame, exult and mock a sitting president because of purported ill health? How can we, without remorse or empathy politicize the death of a woman just because her daughter happens to be the child of a president we have disagreements with?

Players dive and cheat in professional football like it’s a norm. I often ask myself, how do they teach their kids to be upright, ethical and honest citizens when they are doing the opposite on live TV in front of millions of people? What is wrong with the millennial man? Is it religion? Is it education? Is it tradition? What is it?

Some years back I saw a documentary about the Israeli – Palestinian standoff. I watched in disgust and horror as an Israeli tank cleared an orchard of olive trees belonging to a Palestinian. I watched as soldiers held the man back as he wept at seeing his investment and source of income (With the exception of cultivars such as “Koroneiki” and “Arbequina,” which produce fruit as early as 3 years, olive trees will begin producing fruit between 5 and 12 years after germination. They only produce fruit under the right circumstances and may not produce fruit at all if malnourished, damaged or not pollinated. As with other fruit trees, an olive tree grown from seed may not produce fruit at all or may produce fruit that is radically different from the parent plant.) was grazed to the ground. Such heartlessness. I have watched a video of a woman continuously torturing a baby of not more than 2 years of age. I have seen videos of women being stripped naked and beaten on suspicion of marriage interference. I have read of women being sentenced to death for their beliefs. I have read of women being hang for being raped. Of women raped as punishment by law because their brother had broken rules. I have heard of churches burnt and schools bombed and shot at in the name of religion. I have seen people killed in the name of politics. I have heard of people being killed because they looked different.

How would you describe a millennial man? What kinda person are you? What would you do if you came across people fighting? Would you A) try and stop the fight or B) get your phone out and shoot a video.