Free-for-All Friday: Spotlight on the World

This week has been one of turbulence. From the riots in Venezuela that have claimed many civilian lives and the riots in the Ukraine that have been the focus of American global news to my week of being injured, cripple-swagging my way to my classes and wading through school work that obviously pales in comparison. I was going to do something stupid and happy for Friday, but I think that something that everyone needs to address, no matter who they are or where they come from, is that the world turns in ways we don't always want to watch.

America is famous for it's global ignorance. We're the go-to butt of stupid jokes in the global consciousness. And why? Because from our media and our own apathy to finding sources, we just don't get the memo. I had friends today who didn't know about the riots, nor the flooding in England or even the droughts in California, which is (in case you forgot) IN our country. Both as a dystopian writer and as a citizen of the world, I think we've got to wake up. Not just in one country, but in all of them. We are a human family, we affect each other. And to sit in our own respective town, city, state, province, country, and flip the channel to something happier is just a symptom of some of the problems we have.

This is a reason why dystopian fiction is so popular right now: everyone's seeing that the world seems to be getting darker and darker. Riots, rebellions, threats of war, economic turbulence. It's not a great thing to see, and at the scale these things take place in it's easy to feel helpless. But what we can do isn't always necessarily attacking the problem like you think you should. We can't all be Tris Prior or Katniss Everdeen and head a revolution. That would be actually awful. But what can we do? Be more like Emma Stone. And as much as I would love to do that all the time, I'm talking about this instance of her:

I know it sounds ridiculous and stupidly simple, but being better to each other really helps. And not just the holding-the-door-for-strangers thing. Although that's nice. I mean we have to really think outside ourselves and our microcosm that we call life here. The United States did it in WWII - we sunk a bunch of money into Europe in an action known as The Marshall Plan that acted as an economic stimulus to keep European countries in the black and strengthen them against communism. Regardless of political analysis, countries helped each other. Countries who had been fighting against each other a few years before were helping. And we need to do so in a similar fashion today, whether it's showing humanitarian aid, supporting on social media, or simply talking about it with your friends, family, teachers, coworkers, or anyone who will listen. It's a great big world out there, and we can't afford to live on it like we're the only ones.

What makes us unlike Tris, Percy, Katniss, Clary, Harry, and other heroes/heroines that save the world? We don't have legions, nor opportune chances or prophecies or 'chosen one' status. We don't have a clear enemy, whether it's President Snow or Voldemort. There is no 'us' and 'them', no 'good' and 'bad'.

What DO we have? We have their traits. Bravery. Passion. Kindness. Intelligence. A sense of duty. Compassion. We all can recognize that something needs to change, and that we have to lend a hand if things are going to get any better. We have hope they can be better. We are just like these characters, which is why we're attached to them. Bits and pieces of you are in every character you read - the good ones, anyway.

I can't single-handedly bring peace to the Ukrainian riots, nor stop the killing in Venezuela. But together, we can all make a difference, big or small. Let's be better citizens of the world.

Live long and prosper,

Brie