Mercy, Mercy, Me: A 21st-Century Guide to Becoming Informed About Syria & the World

By Anja Wade

Syria. A world away from our world. At least that’s what it seems like for most twenty-something Americans. For most Americans, really. The headlines are deeply upsetting and worrisome. Where do we begin to understand this conflict? What is really true in the media and what is not? These days, the task of being well-informed about world events feels daunting. We carry our mobile devices everywhere and plug our computers in at cafés, we log onto Facebook and watch YouTube videos regularly. The onslaught of information is overwhelming and far from pleasurable or entertaining. It’s certainly anxiety-provoking and confusing.

It feels insufficient to simply read one newspaper or watch one news program on TV at night. The task of being well-informed seems to require much more than just one source. It feels as though we should have six laptops in front of us at once, each with a different news source on the screen, as well as several live streams and podcasts going on in the background. How are we to know what’s really going on globally if we can barely wrap our heads around the amount of information we are faced with locally?

Our eyes and ears take in more information than ever before. Some of it is relevant, some of it is trivial. What matters is that the sheer amount of information we take in is tremendous. It is our job to develop strategies for filtering this information. We need to figure out how to navigate our world in a way that makes sense. In other words, we need to learn how to make sense of our world.

The situation in Syria is complex and demands our attention. Many people confess to me that they feel like the situation is out of their control or beyond the scope of their day-to-day life. I propose that instead of succumbing to these feelings, we agree collectively to listen to or read a different news source for ten minutes a day each week. We don’t have to understand the Syrian conflict immediately but we do need to be immediately accountable for being well-informed. There is a practical way to do this. Just ten minutes a day. And that goes for any major world event. Start small. Choose one headline and focus on it ten minutes a day for a week. Limit yourself to just this headline for one week. Research it, investigate different opinions on it, and learn how you feel about it.

By learning about one major event in the world, you will begin to ask questions about other events in the world. This will lead to greater knowledge of the world in general. We must participate in the daily happenings of our globe. We must do so actively rather than passively.