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Right Brain, Left Brain, And The Statistics Of Malaria
by Amy Chait |
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Born with the right side of my brain in favor, I naturally don’t have a bonding relationship with numbers. I find numbers to be rigid, structured, and formulaic – an impersonal existence presenting facts.
Researchers present us with calculated realities, but I find myself perplexed toward the startling numbers of devastating circumstances around the world. I know what a big number looks like, but I can’t seem to use my right side of the brain to picture a vision that empathizes with the tragic statistics.
We’re more than numbered individuals within national boundaries– we’re mankind, a race with a beating heart. At some point we know what loss feels like, an emptiness of unbarring reality where time pauses and we reach a flatline. Yet, sometimes I fail to compare that feeling with numbers like deaths of children dying from malaria.
I connected the two for the first time when Rick Reilly (the founder of Nothing But Nets) compared the number of children in Africa dying from malaria to the equivalence of experiencing a 9/11 every single day. The picture is more than vivid for me, remembering the day that brought loss not only for individuals, but the United States as a whole.
In Africa, the feeling of loss is not any different – they are mankind, too. With beating hearts, they watch their youth lose a battle from a preventable disease. Malaria was eradicated in America by the 1940’s with support of the federal government, but Africa does not have that luxury. Living on less than a dollar a day, only survival is their luxury.
We can restore hope for our global neighbors for the price of lunch. Right brain or left brain – I don’t find that perplexing at all. A small sum of money may not replace our own losses, but we may be able to comprehend the gratitude we would have if someone helped us prevent them.
Today, Nothing But Nets has distributed over 3 million nets! You can support them on YourCause by linking to United Nations Foundation, and designate the donations to Nothing But Nets.
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