It's so sad. - H

We just watched Slumdog Millionaire last night...in our bed, on the laptop. A sad picture, I know, but the TV is on its way. Anyway, I didn't know anything about the movie except that it won the Oscar for best picture, and that it was made by no one famous in Hollywood. It was a really good story, well told, and it even had something of a happy ending. I had a hard time falling asleep afterward though b/c they were very candid about the poverty, exploitation, and inequality that exists in India, particularly as it pertains to orphaned children. That really stuck out, and I couldn't stop thinking about that. Actually, that's something that always gets me. Tell me a story about a child mistreated when young, and that story will swim in my head forever, making me sad every time it floats to the surface. After all, children often have no choice in the life situations in which they find themselves, and sometimes those situations are so horrible.

I don't know much about the movie makers and their intentions. I wonder if they'll go back to India with their new-found fame and wealth and try to make the slums a better place. I feel like I now know, and so I have some responsibility to do something about it, but what? Tackling something like that seems impossible, and it makes me wonder what difference a little help will really make. I'm overwhelmed. This isn't the only place in the world with problems like this. I feel sad.