What is it about anatomy that's just so complicated?

"Tension, it's all around us. Can you feel it? It's present in our streets, our homes, our countries, the world stage. It exists in many forms, but the main point is that it can do so much harm. Why do we find it so difficult to exist among each other without an underlying sense of tension. Whether it is fueled by race, creed, orientation, opinion, etc. tension between those who are different has been a source of conflict for as long as we lived as communal peoples. An individual who lives with their own set of values will eventually clash with another person if they meet along a deserted road. What is it in our human nature that makes us so prone to hate, and feelings of discrimination against others?"

I just finished watching Crash, and those were some thoughts I had after watching it, and speaking with some friends about the state of the world today. I talk and I think about the complexity of the human mind quite a bit. It still amazes me that I am surprised by the atrocities committed by people everyday. We hear about tragedy on the news, or witness it ourselves. Mass media and technology really have brought the world to our doorsteps, and there is no excuse for our ignorance anymore. I for one, can not sit by idly and watch someone being beat upon by someone else. And yet that's what we do when we watch the news and hear about tragic things that happen to people in faraway places. Because if we aren't there to see it.. it can't really be that bad right?

Watching a movie that speaks about racial tension and how that fuels hatred, I became very frustrated with the state of affairs of globalization. Isn't the technology that we use everyday supposed to bring us together? So if geographically, we are becoming a lot closer, why are we drifting further apart socially? Why is it that as we become more interdependent economically and in resources, the underlying social tensions are becoming more and more open and vicious? I'm so full of questions, but I did come to some conclusions after this movie. No matter how subtle it is, racism and discrimination exists in all of us. Its how we decide to act on these impulses that determines who we are as people. At school I take International Development Studies and it requires us to partake in an overseas work placement for a year in a developing country. It is assumed that we enter into this program with an open mind and try to get rid of any biases we have. This year, we are going to be going through Anti-Racism training that will teach us a different perspective on Development and show us that even though we are not conscious of it, we all have certain racist tendencies. I've been shocked this year at the number of people I'm meeting that make discriminatory and judgmental comments without the blink of an eye. Especially my fellow students who are going to work in developing countries soon and have derogatory comments about people living in those countries. It irks me.. So.. where does that leave us? It leaves us with the responsibility to try and speak, read, listen and see with an open mind and heart and to hold no bias against those who are different from us. Not much to ask right?