One quote that particularly stood out to me was, “While African children have long functioned as exemplary victims, Americans generally help them “over there”—during famines or wars—not “over here”” from Ticktin’s piece, What’s Wrong with Innocence. This idea of “there versus here” is something I’d like to draw on. We, as a community, are so fast to throw money and “awareness” at issues abroad, we are so quick to join different humanitarian teams and nonprofit organizations that work over “here” to help those over “there.” But that is where the disconnect lies. I will be the first one to tell you that we have a moral and human obligation to support and help all the different people that occupy this world. However, when that obligation blinds us from the systemic issues present in our own country – we have a problem. There is no reason we cannot do both, there is no reason we can’t be good citizens domestically and globally. But we cannot compartmentalize. We cannot make divisions that separate “us” from “them” and allow us to overlook our own problems. Ticktin brings up a profound point – we are so eager and willing to help “African children” when they are in different countries in the midst of famine or war, but we consistently fail to recognize the discrimination and marginalization that occurs within our own borders.

I remember one particular encounter I had while abroad in India – I was sitting at the dinner table with a professor from an American university, he was from India originally. We were having a conversation about my experience in the country so far. I expressed how taken aback I was by the overwhelming poverty that was excruciatingly present. I told this professor how angry and upset it made me, and how badly I wanted to do something about it. He looked at me with contemplative eyes for a painfully long five seconds before saying, “And what about the poverty in America?” At first, I stumbled over my thoughts and words because he really threw me off guard. He was making a point that I’ll never forget – why do we have to go abroad, or look abroad, in order for our eyes to see systemic issues that need to be resolved? He expressed how blind we are to the problems within our own country’s borders because they become so habituated. He told me that he was actually guilty of putting on those same “blinders” himself, it took going to the United States, New York City specifically, for him to truly “see” what poverty looks like. I’m recounting this story for two reasons. Firstly, I think it is extremely important to not allow yourself to wear blinders in your own country, and truly open your eyes to the issues within your own borders. But secondly, we too frequently create this “us versus them” distinction, we too frequently compartmentalize and divide based on geographical location, race, religion, etc. At the end of the day, we are all human beings living in the same exact world, trying to do the same thing – have “the ability to choose the lives we lead.”