For days all we heard on the cable news was concern about the Ebola crisis. Then – suddenly nothing!
Why no news?
We Americans have such short attention spans and the news media seems to be able to only concentrate on one news item at a time. Whenever something shocking or dramatic happens, it is as if everything else in the world does not exist.
We are so self-absorbed!
And, quite frankly, unless it threatens our lives, our comforts, we Americans don’t seem all that concerned.
The chart above is from data compiled by Google and it shows how interested our country was when several people here were infected with the virus. However, as the cases of Ebola in the USA were contained, we lost interest.
Ebola still is a crisis in West Africa!
The latest stats (and they change daily) I found was:
- Liberia – 3,587 deaths
- Sierra Leone – 3, 132 death
- Guinea – 1,875 deaths
Along with the deaths, more than 20,000 have fallen ill with the disease. It is estimated that six out of ten who are currently ill with the disease will die and many still are not getting any medical care.
Entire society is changed by this crisis!
We think only of the tragedy of the deaths in this situation. However, even after the disease is brought under control, there will remain long-lasting effects for West Africa.
- Children left as orphans when their parents died
- Families who also lost mothers, fathers, grandparents
- The economic blow brought to those communities as the bread-winner for the family has died
- Children who have had to miss months of schooling because schools were closed
- Businesses who have lost income they will never regain because their business was closed, or even if still open, few customers came
Oh well – it doesn’t affect me!
Strange how churches were praying about the crisis when it looked like the virus might threaten the USA. But, now I do not hear any prayers being given for the crisis. It doesn’t affect us – so we are back to praying about things that concern us.