Altin
Issues I’m into:
Global poverty;
Joined
11/29/2005
Views
17927
Blog Entries:
0
Last Blog Entry:
1/1/0001
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| Name: |
Altin |
| I live: |
Sydney |
*A bit about me*
There is always something a bit wierd about short biographies. What should you write about? You don't want to hear what I had for lunch, do you? It was delicious ...
No?
Well, alright, how about this: I was born in what used to be called Yugoslavia, and what is now Bosnia. When I was around seven, the people of that country started killing each other, so I was obliged to leave. Since then I've been kicking around the world a fair bit; so far, I've lived in Denmark, Bangladesh, America and Australia. Australian is what it says on my passport, but I don't really think of myself as having a nationality. You might think of me as one of the evils of globalisation ...
When not living the life of a twenty-first century gypsy, I can be found reading, thinking, writing, playing the sax, cooking or studying. Just recently (I write this in November, 2005) I finished a B.A. at Sydney Uni, majoring in English and History, and dabbling in nearly everything else you might think of. Right now, I'm kind of trying to work out what the hell I'm going to do with the rest of my life.
*How I got involved in ActNow*
So, how did I end up at ActNow? Well, for a really long time now, I've been concerned with the state of the world, and the direction things seem to be heading in. Because I've travelled a lot, I've witnessed first-hand things like third-world poverty and the devestation of war. Those kinds of experiences really wake you up, but they also make you feel incredibly helpless. I spend a lot of time thinking about how we could fix the way the world is, but most of the time I don't actually do very much. I guess participating in ActNow is my way of trying to get a bit more practically involved in making the world a better place.
*What makes me want to act *
I can't stand injustice. Absolutely can't stand it. Every time I think about the immense amount of suffering that takes place every day,I want to throw up, cry, scream and hit things. The only way I can bear to live in a world like this is by making some sort of effort to make it slightly less awful.
I believe that to close your eyes to these problems, or to pass them by and do nothing, is wrong. That's true even if you feel they have nothing to do with you personally. If you are witness to a crime, and you do nothing to stop it, then you are partly responsible for that crime. Being a good person is not just about behaving decently towards other creatures, but also about fighting against indecency whenever and wherever we encounter it. That's a tall order, I guess, but if we're not prepared to try and live up to our values, then what's the point of having values in the first place?
