A Curious Girl: After Edinburgh

I went to Edinburgh!! Woo!
I'm trying to decide if I feel deeply grateful, faintly smug or mildly resentful that I went to the Make Poverty History rally instead of watching Live 8. Perhaps I feel all three.

So first - deeply grateful. It's good to know I was present at a historical occasion. I met up with Keith, which was good, and also met some other nice people along the way... I saw Edinburgh, which was beautiful. I 'caught the sun', which basically means that my cheeks and nose are pink as with ineptly applied blusher. And I'm glad I added another to the people who were up there, saying that we actually care about this issue - we don't want anyone else to die needlessly thanks to the selfishness of governments or the apathy of world leaders.

Faintly smug - yes, I repent. But a little part of me feels very important that I, me, Helen, was actually there, was off making a difference while everyone else sat home and watched Live 8. I ought to be ashamed. After all, one of the reasons I went was because I thought it would be fun, which is hardly the attitude one should have to eradicating world poverty. And, although admittedly not as easy as attending the Feb 15th Anti Iraq War Rally, it wasn't exactly the hardest thing to do in order to fight poverty (although I am skint now. Sigh). Funny, really... actually one of my favourite speakers of the day was a guy from Tearfund who encouraged us to be humble - and to make sure that our lives reflect our beliefs (he quoted Micah - "Live justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God"). How stupid of me to think that my taking part in a single event somehow makes me a great person. If I really want to make the world a better place, I'll have to do a whole lot more than that...

Mildly resentful... because this morning everyone was talking about Live 8 and I almost entirely missed it. I caught about five minutes repeated at half midnight, and the band (whoever they were) weren't that good. I often feel lonely at work, actually, and it just seemed a bit wrong that I couldn't even talk about Live 8 because I was off doing something Bob Geldof would approve of...

In any case, thus far this is a very self-centred entry. Funnily enough, Make Poverty History isn't actually about how I feel. It's about justice, and about people standing up for what they believe in. It was great to be among people who believe that we really can make a difference. I've followed some discussions on events surrounding the G8, and so many people are not only ignorant yet opinionated, but they also think so negatively. I believe the most importantly thing about the rally was not that we promoted Fair Trade or got more aid for Africa, but that we showed that something needs to be done to make things better - and we won't rest until it happens.

Random word for today: litotes

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