Ben has gone off to Save the World

My good friend Ben does stuff with the UN and goes away for year long missions working for child protection rights. When he tells me what he's doing, it has always kind of gone in one ear and then out the other and I call what he's doing as "saving the world" as the details sort of disappear into the ethereal.

But after he came back from Nepal, I saw he was a changed person and I was actually a bit frightened. What happened to the friendly, easy-going Ben that I knew before? He had come back quite dark and felt bitter and angry about the ignorance of Sydneysiders. He had seen horrific things done to helpless children in Nepal. He hadn't prepared himself to experience what he did and it has changed his life and there is no turning back. Coming back to Sydney had made him realise how ignorant, ungrateful and arrogant a lot of people are.

Although I was kind of afraid of his intensity, he was able to overtime make me passionate about the problematic issues of the world too. I had told him honestly that I really admire what he does but if I were in his shoes, I wouldn't want to go to places and see all those depressing things as I would feel depressed and there's not much that I can do anyways and I know it will change me to be a darker person. And I, like everyone else, are probably immune to seeing starving children on TV or the devastation from events like Sep-11, the tsunami, mudslides etc and don't react the way we would if we were there.

For those who know Ben, he was an arts/law student at UNSW, won bachelor of the law faculty a few times, was the karate captain etc etc. Instead of leading a conventional life and continuing his success story into becoming a lawyer at a nice firm in Sydney, he has pursued a different path that will actually make a difference in helping other people to have better lives. He will be going to East Timor soon to work for UNICEF and understands that it will be hard to make changes in a big way (due to the culture there and the government) but believes small things can make a big impact on others lives.

He has certainly inspired me and other friends. Not sure if I would have the courage to break out of my conventional life though. But he has made me seriously think about helping out some way in the future. Perhaps after I reach more senior levels in Marketing, I can apply my marketing skills to get funding for charities and other organisations. Because seriously - how effective is it having people chase you around at train stations with buckets trying to make you feel guilty? The key is to make people feel passionate about the cause too. But later on, I'd probably have kids and have a house and will think that I've got to look after my children etc etc. I dunno... the future is so unknown..