So really it's about selfishness....

One week ago, just last Wednesday,  the world awoke to news of an act of terror and senseless murder that had been committed in Paris. That day, and in the days since, media has been full of images, videos, and stories giving us every angle and every opinion about what happened at Charlie Hebdo and why it occurred.  In those days we found ourselves riveted by the search for the attackers and the images of the gun battles that would eventually end the lives of the accused gunmen.  Cable News has been full of "talking heads" who each have an opinion about what the world's response should be in the aftermath of Charlie Hebdo.  Rallies have been held, signs declaring, "I am Charlie" have been made, and the people of Europe have come together in a remarkable and inspiring display of unity.  The images that have been shared remind me a great deal of what took place here in the United States in those first days and weeks after 9/11.  It is amazing how grief can build bridges and bring people together.  I continue to grieve with the people of France and I pray for the day when "terror" of any form becomes just a distant, yet still painful memory.  

At about the same time, on a different continent, another act of terror was occurring.  Only we didn't know about it at the time.  It wasn't until after we had become overly saturated by what happened in France did we learn about the incredibly horrible atrocities that had been committed by the militant group Boko Haram.  There are now reports that up to 2000 civilians had been killed by this group and that up to 16 different villages had been razed.  It was amazing (in an incredibly sad sort of way) to me that I first learned about this event not from CNN or from other major news outlets,but from random journalists that I follow on Twitter.  When I first saw mentions of Nigeria coming across my Twitter feed, I did not at first know what was happening.  It took a little bit of digging on my part to get the full scoop about what had happened and what was continuing to happen.  

As I have started to compare the attention that Paris received to the attention garnered by the events in Nigeria I have gotten confused by the disparity.  It is not like the world isn't aware of the brutal capabilities of Boko Haram. It's also not like the world hasn't responded publicly to previous atrocities committed by this terror group.  We remember that it was the actions of Boko Haram that sparked the #bringbackourgirls campaign.   So what was it about these two instances that caused one to be at the forefront of the consciousness of the Western world and the other to be relegated to the back pages and the closing statements of the news broadcasts? 

As I have been wrestling with this question, I have been fighting the temptation to simplify it to the easy answer of "black" and "white"  That is, the majority of the victims in France were Caucasian, and those in Nigeria were, of course, not.  While we don't really know, and I'm sure that every news outlet will give a different response to their delay in reporting and the lack of attention to these atrocities that occurred in Nigeria, I imagine that the real reasoning boils down to an incredibly high level of ignorance on the part of so many of us (myself very much included) as to what the situation actually is on the African continent.  I wonder how many of us could actually locate Nigeria on a map of Africa (I had to look it up) and I wonder how many of us can resonate at all with the political and social upheaval that is occurring in that country.  

This is in sharp contrast to the situation in Paris where most (if not all) of us have some level of familiarity with the French way of life.  We have either visited Paris, know someone from France, or can otherwise identify with the French people.  In addition, what happened in France was an attack on "Free Speech" and for Westerners, there is not much that is more sacred to us than the right to express ourselves.  

As I have started to process this disconnect on a deeper level I have started to wonder how we each pick and choose what we pay attention to.  How do we determine what is important to us?  How do we ascertain what (and who) matters more than others?  I have started to ask these questions of myself as well.  I have started to become more fully aware of the nice, neat little bubble that I have successfully wrapped myself up in.  I am becoming more cognizant of where I get my news, who I talk to, and how my worldview is shaped.  I have become aware that I paid more attention to what happened in Paris, because it, in theory, could happen here in Oklahoma City.  

So really, at the end of the day, I guess it's about selfishness, and self preservation.  But then I realize that has a follower of the risen Christ, selfishness and self preservation cannot be were my devotion lies.  It is my prayer for myself that I will have the courage to expand my bubble, to become much more aware of what is happening outside of my very limited worldview, and will seek to invite others to do the same.  Doing this while remembering that until all live in peace, none of us truly do.