It seems like this was written with the intent to antagonize the main characters for their empty and narcissistic lifestyles. Charity events such as ‘banquets for people blown apart by landmines’ are all too familiar in reality, where self-promoting social events hold a greater value than the cause itself.
Taking another step into it, the story doesn’t only seem to be putting the generalized rich people in a negative light, but humanity as a whole. The very ending of the story confirmed it for me—“to go swimming with endangered gray whales. Sleep in the canopy of a dwindling rainforest. Photograph some vanishing zebras.” Making a difference is not really what is important to most people, but feeling like we are making a difference is. It’s a bitter pill to swallow for most people, and this would be very alienating to me if I had never admitted it before. I am not telling people to go out into the world and be more compassionate; I’m instead urging people to come to terms with reality.
It didn’t take long for Mrs. Keyes to realize that the homeless lifestyle wasn’t so extravagant, and that the free enterprise had the medicine all along.
>>Making a difference is not really what is important to most people, but feeling like we are making a difference is.<<
ReplyDeleteYes! Well put, and right on point.