I am shockingly ignorant (we all are, each in our own way).

I love learning. I get it from my father, I think, who is a lifelong learner. Now, at age 84, he is working on a book about photography – still trying to decipher what makes for a great photograph and reading, thinking, writing, and learning every day.
 

Mostly, I love having my ignorance exploded. I love discovering how little I know.

I learned an interesting perspective on Ebola from South African comic Trevor Noah on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Here is food for thought. The United States has had four confirmed cases of Ebola. South Africa has had zero cases in the last eighteen years. I was previously aware of the difficulty spreading Ebola and never considered it to be much risk to Canada, for instance. Nonetheless, the ego and ignorance of American representatives who would ban all travel to and from Africa shows a complete disregard for evidence. South Africa is a long way away from the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak.

Trevor Noah reminded me that I am completely ignorant as to the size of the continent of Africa.  Fly from Ottawa to Mexico City and the distance is 3600 KM. Fly from Casablanca, Morocco (the northwest corner of Africa) to Capetown, South Aftrica and the distance is 7990 KM. Africa is a big, big place. Social and political problems in Egypt, Sudan, Congo, Sierra Leone, and South Africa are very far removed from one another. I must remind myself not to think of Africa as a single place which a lot of us do. I am embarrassed by my ignorance.

This morning I had another shocking fact presented to me. In 2014, according to the Syrian Observatory for Civil Rights, 76,021 people were killed in the civil war. Over 17,000 civilians. Over 3500 children. It is no surprise that Syrians refugees are climbing aboard derelict livestock carriers in the thousands and hoping for refuge anywhere. This despite the fact they must know they are at risk of being abandoned at sea as has happened twice in the past week. 

More than 200,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in 2011.

In perspective, Canada lost 45,400 people in World War II, about 0.4 percent of the population. In three years Syria has lost 0.88 percent of its population. 

I am not sure what I would have estimated the death toll to be in Syria because I have no perspective. It’s a news story on the periphery of my awareness in a part of the world in which I have very little understanding. This stark fact – almost 75,000 people killed in 2014 – brings home the scope of this story to those who are living through it and trying to escape it.

We are so very lucky in Canada. We have, each of us, won the birth lottery and find ourselves surrounded my wealth, prosperity, and security. 

Happy New Year.