When an airplane crashes, officials immediately call a press conference. They promise to investigate, determine the cause, and prevent similar crashes in the future.
当一架飞机坠毁了,官员们会立刻召开新闻发布会,他们承诺进行调查,下定决心找到原因以防止将来再次发生类似事故。
But if the officials were brutally honest, they would say: "Of all the people in the world who died today from preventable causes, one half of one percent of them were on this plane. We're determined to do everything possible to solve the problem that took the lives of the one half of one percent."
但是如果那些官员敢说真话,他们就会说:“在今天,世界所有由于可以避免的原因而死亡的人之中,只有0.5%的死者来自于这次空难。我们下定决心尽一切努力,调查这个0.5%的死亡原因。”
The bigger problem is not the plane crash, but the millions of preventable deaths.
显然,问题不是这次空难,而是其他几百万可以预防的死亡事件。
We don't read much about these deaths. The media covers what's new – and millions of people dying is nothing new. So it stays in the background, where it's easier to ignore. But even when we do see it or read about it, it's difficult to keep our eyes on the problem. It's difficult to look at suffering if the situation is so complex that we don't know how to help. And so we look away.
我们并没有很多机会了解这些死亡事件。媒体总是报告新闻,几百万人将要死去并非新闻。如果没有人报道,那么这些事件就很容易被忽视。另一方面,即使我们确实目睹了事件本身或者看到了相关报道,我们也很难持续关注这些事件。看着他人受苦是令人痛苦的,何况问题又如此复杂,我们根本不知道如何去提供援助。所以我们会转移视线。
If we can really see a problem, which is the first step, we come to the second step: cutting through the complexity to find a solution.
就算我们真正发现了问题所在,也不过是迈出了第一步,接着还有第二步:那就是从复杂的世界中找到解决办法。
Finding solutions is essential if we want to make the most of our caring. If we have clear and proven answers anytime an organization or individual asks "How can I help?" then we can get action – and we can make sure that none of the caring in the world is wasted.
如果我们要让关心落到实处,我们就必须找到解决办法。如果我们有一个清晰可靠的答案,那么无论何时当任何组织和个人发出“我如何能提供帮助”的疑问的时候,我们就可以采取行动。我们就能够保证不浪费一丁点全世界人类对他人的关心。