Tonight, watching the movie "Running the Sahara"
had such an impact on me, words cannot describe. A true story documenting
three men who ran and traveled over 4,300 miles (6,920 kilometers) in 111 days through
6 countries: Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Libya, and Egypt. Part of their goal was to bring attention and
support to the water crisis in Africa through H2O Africa. As life goes, my feelings about this movie
include a culmination of other personal experiences, about which I will briefly
mention a few for context.
Many years ago when visiting different countries, another emotional
experience that has imprinted an incomprehensible and eternal memory on the
character of my soul is feeling the tug of starving children on my leg and
looking into their faces. Repeated one
asks, what is the difference between watching a TV commercial soliciting financial
donations to feed a starving child and facing that child in person? No one can describe, define, or measure it because
it is completely different for every person.
What would I do if this was my child, or my sister’s child, or my
neighbor’s child, and is not everyone my brother and neighbor no matter what
nationality or where they live?
My son, Matthew is currently on a full-time LDS mission in
Africa (personal letters). We have learned that electricity and clean
drinking water are not a primary standard of the infrastructure of some cities
in Africa, let alone rural suburbs. Human
sewage disposal is very limited, even when it might be provided by a secondary
non-drinkable water source. Where water is
available filters are necessary. Electricity
and water services are shut-off without notice, and offered on a limited or conditional
basis. Google Earth provides a view of some
cities in Africa with a few 8-12 story modern buildings across the street from
shacks. This is shocking and heart wrenching
to me.
From my Architecture Human Dimensions college-course here is
another perspective. Socially, we honor
the enormous mansions and palaces of Greek, Roman and French architecture
history. The size of some of these
castles or estates is a waste of resources contrary to common sense and
practical good judgment; let alone the exploited taxation of malnourished lower
class citizens. Yet we perpetuate this
social architectural behavior today in skyscrapers and massive multi-million
dollar single-family houses and cabins while approximately 10 million children
under the age of 5 die every year because of preventable diseases and
starvation. For a comparative analysis,
we have already killed more children – from preventable causes – in the last decade
than the 75 million people who died during one of the deadliest wars in
history, the Holocaust.
The movie Running the Sahara gave
me hope because these three men accomplished something that had never been done
before, and especially because it was previously believe to be impossible or thought to be impractical or useless.
Their experience reminded me of the first
time I watched Joel Barker’s video the Business ofParadigms because it provided another forever memory with an indefatigable
question, “What is impossible to do today in your business, but, if it could be
done, would fundamentally change it for the better?”. Now whenever someone says, “that is
impossible” my heart is stirred to ask, but what if it could be done.
Too many times we find ourselves being inspired by reading a
book, inspired by listening to a person tell a true story, or inspired by any
number of other experiences, only to find ourselves waking up the next day with
no change of heart or motivation to do anything. Once in a great while the sparks in our soul
are fueled by a combination of events and experiences that ignite the flames of
fire to positive change. We look back on
these “forks in the road” changes where we have been able to take the road less
traveled – or in some cases never traveled or attempted – with a feeling of profound
gratitude and joy for the good that we accomplished. Despite the pain and suffering they caused us
and others, we would never go back. Upon
further reflection, we wish and pray for more of these life changing
experiences in order to overcome other personal and social challenges – some with
deep burdens that feel overwhelming because of many years of failed attempts to
solve.
The culmination of my experiences plus the movie "Running the Sahara" gave me a
feeling of renewed hope to make a personal change, despite the severe
challenges we face in the world, personally, socially, economically, and
culturally. It was very good.
---
Michael Rybin~۩~
Architecture is a wonderful life ™
Copyright© 2013 Michael Rybin All Rights Reserved.
